Chitosan based aerogels for textile wastewater remediation

Authors

  • Melina Kloster Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales (INTEMA), Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata – CONICET. Av. Colón 10850, Mar del Plata (7600), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Departamento de Ingeniería Química y en Alimentos, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Av. J. B. Justo 4302, Mar del Plata (7600), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • Mirna A. Mosiewicki Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales (INTEMA), Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata – CONICET. Av. Colón 10850, Mar del Plata (7600), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Departamento de Ingeniería Química y en Alimentos, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Av. J. B. Justo 4302, Mar del Plata (7600), Buenos Aires, Argentina.
  • Norma E. Marcovich Instituto de Investigaciones en Ciencia y Tecnología de Materiales (INTEMA), Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata – CONICET. Av. Colón 10850, Mar del Plata (7600), Buenos Aires, Argentina. Departamento de Ingeniería Química y en Alimentos, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Av. J. B. Justo 4302, Mar del Plata (7600), Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Abstract

Aerogels are porous materials that have very low density and can be used in various technological applications, among which the adsorption of contaminants from wastewater stands out. In this work, chitosan-based aerogels were obtained from the lyophilization of hydrogels cross-linked with glutaraldehyde. These materials were characterized by measuring their density, porosity, swelling degree and stability in different solvents and point of zero charge. Moreover, to test the behavior of the obtained materials as contaminant adsorbents, kinetic tests were carried out using Congo Red anionic dye. The experimental data from those tests were satisfactorily fitted with pseudo-second order model. It was found that the properties and adsorption capacities of the samples depended on their composition. More stable materials with better adsorption performance were obtained using higher contents of chitosan or glutaraldehyde. 

Published

20-12-2023