Ephraim Igberase
Department of Chemical Engineering, Durban University of Technology, Steve Biko, Durban, South Africa.
Innocentia G. Mkhize
Department of Chemical Engineering, Durban University of Technology, Steve Biko, Durban, South Africa.
In this post, we present a brief overview of our recently published book chapter titled “Methylene Blue Adsorption Utilizing Enhanced Chitosan Beads: A Response Surface Methodology and Artificial Neural Network Study.”
The crystallinity of the various developed materials\ was assessed through XRD. Reported that chitosan is crystalline and that the crystallinity blocks the amine group from adsorbing pollutants. Hence, modification is highly recommended to reduce the crystallinity of chitosan and open its network for easy diffusion of MB. The CS shown in exhibits a peak at 2𝛳 = 20𝑜, which corresponds to the 110 plane of chitosan. This same feature (110 plane) was also seen in CCS. This observation is because chitosan can retain some properties after a modification process. A decrease in intensity was observed when the cross-linked beads were grafted with aniline. The decreased intensity in the grafted sample caused the breaking of the original hydrogen bonds between amino and hydroxyl groups, eliminating the crystallinity and creating a regular arrangement of polysaccharides. And thereby enhancing the adsorption capacity.
