Hexametaphosphate cross-linked chitosan beads for the eco-efficient removal of organic dyes: Tackling water quality

There is an increasing trend of developing various low-cost grafted natural amino polysaccharides for the biosorptive removal of noxious dye effluents like Malachite green (MG) and anionic Reactive Red–195 (RR-195) dyes from aqueous solution. Chemically cross-linked chitosan microsphere (CTS-HMP), a promising non-toxic biosorbent possessing high charge density and thermal stability was prepared by using hexametaphosphate as ionic cross-linker. Batch biosorption experiments were carried out under different temperatures (298, 308 and 318 K), pH (2.0–10.0), initial concentrations (25–250 mg L−1), adsorbent dosage (0.01–0.1 g) and contact times (0–180 min) to understand the optimum experimental conditions and simultaneously evaluate the adsorption isotherms and kinetics of CTS-HMP. Biosorption equilibrium was established in 120 and 60 min for MG and RR-195 removal process. The pseudo-equilibrium process was best described by the pseudo-second-order kinetic (R2 ≥ 0.98), Freundlich and Temkin isotherm model (R2 ≥ 0.90). The removal rate of MG and RR-195 gradually increased (69.40 and 148 mg g−1) at 250 mg L−1 of initial concentration till 100 and 50 min of contact period in a single contaminant system, though the removal efficiency of acid dye was ~2 times higher compared to basic dye under optimum conditions (p