Application of chitosan in removal of molybdate ions from contaminated water and groundwater.

Water pollution by heavy metals represents a serious problem around the world. Among various treatment techniques for water remediation, adsorption is an effective and versatile method due to the low cost, effectiveness and simplicity. Chitosan is a cationic polysaccharide with an excellent adsorption capacity of heavy metal ions. Chitosan has a high molybdate adsorption capacity (265±1mgg) at 20°C and pH 2.7. Participation of hydroxyl groups in the adsorption of molybdate anions was confirmed by FT-IR analysis. SEM images showed that morphological surface changes happen after Mo adsorption. Continuous adsorption data were best fitted by Modified Dose- Response model. Scale-up of continuous processes was achieved applying bed depth service time (BDST) model. Application of chitosan in molybdate removal from real groundwater samples suggest that this polysaccharide is a good option to be used for household purposes.