ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Preparation of Chitin Composite Hydrogel
for Dye-Contaminated Water Treatment
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School of Material Engineering, Jinling Institute of Technology, Nanjing 211169, China
Submission date: 2021-04-11
Final revision date: 2021-05-22
Acceptance date: 2021-05-25
Online publication date: 2021-10-20
Publication date: 2021-12-23
Corresponding author
Xiaoyu Chen
School of Material Engineering, Jinling Institute of Technology, 211169, Nanjing, China
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2022;31(1):15-23
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ABSTRACT
Chitin is the most abundant natural amino polysaccharide. In this study, chitin was dissolved
in 8% NaOH/6% urea solution by freezing/thawing method and then was blended with sodium
alginate solution, attapulgite powder and epichlorohydrin. This mixture was set aside for 12 hours at
25ºC without agitation. By this simple blending and setting aside method, a novel chitin composite
hydrogel for dye-contaminated water treatment was prepared. A cross-linked structure was proved by
Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Freeze-dried composite hydrogel exhibited
a porous structure and rod-like attapulgite was distributed on the wall of pores, which was observed
by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images. Swelling test showed that sodium alginate significantly
enhanced the swelling of chitin-sodium alginate hydrogel compared to the pure chitin hydrogel.
Adsorption test to methylene blue solution showed that adsorption capacity of composite hydrogel
changed with the content of attapulgite and increased with the increase of initial concentration
of methylene blue. The maximum adsorption capacity was 116.6 mg g-1. Adsorption kinetic
is best described by pseudo-second order model. Adsorption isotherm agrees well with Fraundlinch
model. Chitin composite hydrogel is a promising adsorption material for dye-contaminated water
treatment.