Development of natural blends for removal of organic pollutants

Abstract

Chitosan was blended with cellulose and starch to produce a unique surface for removing phenolic compounds. Casting method was used to prepare chitosan blends. FTIR indicate the occurrence of blends, AFM indicate the high surface area and suitability of these blends for adsorption of organic compounds. Mechanical properties indicate that the studied blends show improvement under the studied mechanical parameters as compared with chitosan. Molecular modeling indicate that high dipole moment with unique hydrogen bonding dedicate these blends for removing pollutants. Finally the blends are immersed in synthetic standards of 10-4, 0,5×10-4, 0,25×10 -4 and 0,125×10-4 mol of bromophenol red respectively. UV-Vis measurements show that the studied blends could remove bromophenol red within 15 minutes. Copyright © 2014 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.