Grafting of aniline derivatives onto chitosan and their applications for removal of reactive dyes from industrial effluents.

A series of chitosan-grafted polyaniline derivatives {chitosan-g-polyaniline (CS-g-PANI), chitosan-g-poly(N-methylaniline) (CS-g-PNMANI), and chitosan-g-poly(N-ethylaniline) (CS-g-PNEANI)} were synthesized by in situ chemical oxidation polymerization method. The synthesized copolymers were analyzed by means of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopies, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM). These copolymers were applied as adsorbent for removal of acid red 4 (AR4) and direct red 23 (DR23) from aqueous solutions. The adsorption processes were optimized in terms of pH, adsorbent amount, and dyes concentrations. The maximum adsorption capacities (Q _m ) for the synthesized copolymers were calculated, and among them the CS-g-PNEANI sample showed highest Q _m for both AR4 (98mgg ^-1 ) and DR23 (112mgg ^-1 ) dyes. The adsorption kinetics of AR4 and DR23 dyes follow the pseudo-second order kinetic model. The regeneration and reusability tests revealed that the synthesized adsorbents had the relatively good reusability after five repetitions of the adsorption-desorption cycles. As the results, it is expected that the CS-g-PANIs find application for removal of reactive dyes (especially anionic dyes) from industrial effluents mainly due to their low production costs and high adsorption effectiveness.
(Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)