Water quality is very important to food processing industry. Water hardness caused by calcium ions in water can affect the properties of food including aroma, texture, flavor and appearance. Chitosan has amino functional groups that can remove metal ions from aqueous solution. However, chitosan can give more effective removal of calcium ions if it is modified with functionalized substance such as thiamine hydrochloride. therefore, the objectives of this study were to synthesize the modified chitosan with thiamine hydrochloride (MCTH) and to determine its efficiency for removal of calcium ion in solution. Chitosan was prepared from crab shells and modified with thiamine hydrochloride at 30 °C. The morphology of both crab-shell chitosan (CSC) and MCTH was characterized by SEM, FTIR and NMR techniques. Batch adsorption experiments were conducted as a function of pH, contacted time and initial concentration of calcium (II) ions. The desorption of calcium(II) ion from both adsorbents was also investigated. The concentration of calcium in solution was measured by FAAS technique. The results indicated that the optimum pH for adsorption was 6.0 for both CSC and MCTH. The adsorption capacity for MCTH (48.31 mg g-1) was greater than that of CSC (1.52 mg g-1). The isotherm showed that the adsorption process of calcium (II) ions onto MCTH was fitted to Langmuir isotherm model. Calcium desorption from MCTH was lower than that of CSC.
