Adsorptive Removal of Lead and Cadmium Ions using Cross-Linked CMC Schiff Base: Isotherm, Kinetics and Catalytic Activity

Water plays a vital role to human and other living organisms. Due to the effluent coming from chemical industries, the industrial activity, contamination of ground water level is goes on increasing nowadays. Therefore, there is a need to develop technologies that can remove toxic pollutants in wastewater. Hence the cross linked Carboxymethyl chitosan(CMC)/ 2,3-dimethoxy Benzaldehyde Schiff base complex has been synthesized and characterized by using FT-IR and SEM analysis. All these results revealed that cross linked Schiff base has formed with high adsorption capacity. The prepared effective adsorbent used for the removal of heavy metals like lead (II) and cadmium (II) ions from aqueous solution and the adsorption data follow the Freundlich model, which follows pseudo first order kinetics. Effect of various parameters like solution pH, adsorbent dose and contact time for the removal of heavy metals has been studied. The synthesized sample undergoes catalytic oxidation process significantly at 24 hrs. The results showed that cross linked Schiff base is an effective, eco-friendly, low-cost adsorbent.