Adsorption of Cd (II) from aqueous solutions by nanocomposite of chitosan-MWCNTs

In this paper, the removal of cadmium ions as a model pollutant in aqueous solution by adsorption on nanocomposite of chitosan-multi wall carbon nano tubes (MWCNTs) was investigated. Fourier transfer infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) was used for characterization of chitosan-mwcnts nanocomposite. The morphological results indicated the successful modification and the formation of chitosan-mwcnts nanocomposite. Adsorption studies were performed in a batch system, and the effects of various experimental parameters such as initial cadmiumd concentration and initial pH of solution on the adsorption of cadmium were evaluated. Experimental findings revealed that, the optimum operating conditions for cadmium removal by nanocomposite of chitosan-mwcnts were pH = 6 and adsorbent dose = 0.08 g. Langmuir, Freundlich adsorption isotherms were applied to describe the isotherms modle. The results showed that the adsorption behaviors of Cd(II) on chitosan-mwcnts nanocomposite followed Langmuir isotherm. The maximum adsorption capacities calculated from Langmuir isotherm model was obtained to be 24.27 mg/g (R2 = 0.995).