Hexavalent chromium ion and methyl orange dye uptake: Via a silk protein sericin-chitosan conjugate

Swatantra Pratap Singh, Karthik Rathinam, Roni Kasher, Christopher J. Arnusch

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

25 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sericin, a protein waste product of the silk industry, was crosslinked with chitosan, and a chitosan-sericin conjugate (CS) was prepared, characterized and used to remove hexavalent chromium (Cr(vi)) ions and methyl orange (MO) dye from aqueous solutions. The CS was shown to effectively remove Cr(vi) ions and MO dye at maximum adsorption capacities (Langmuir) of 139 mg g-1 for Cr(vi) ions and 385 mg g-1 for MO dye. Moreover, the adsorption of both Cr(vi) ions and MO dye was highly pH dependent and varied under different experimental conditions. Cr(vi) ion and MO dye uptake by the CS was confirmed by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and energy dispersive spectrometry analysis. Additionally, XPS analysis of the Cr(vi)-loaded CS revealed that Cr(vi) was reduced to the less toxic Cr(iii). The CS was shown not only to be highly amenable to regeneration, but also to be able to effectively remove MO dye and Cr(vi) ions from a binary mixture.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)27027-27036
Number of pages10
JournalRSC Advances
Volume8
Issue number48
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Jan 2018

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Chemistry
  • General Chemical Engineering

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