CHARACTERISTICS OF Chlorella sp BIOMASS IMMOBILIZED ON CHITOSAN (Chlo-Kit) FOR ADSORPTION OF CHROMIUM(III) SOLUTION
<p>Properties of biosorbent prepared from biomass of <em>Chlorella </em>sp immobilized on chitosan (Chlo-Kit) have been studied for adsorption of Chromium(III). Chlo-Kit adsorbent prepared by following steps: dissolving chitosan to get hydrogel form, immobilization of biomasson chitosan hydrogel, <em>beads </em>formation and crosslinkingthe adsorbent beads using epichlorohydrin reagent.</p>Characterization using FT-IR spectrophotometry and SEM showed that mechanism of biomass immobilization on chitosan involves electrostatic interactions between the functional groups of such both materials. Biomass immobilized on chitosan (Chlo-Kit) showed the higher stability in acid medium than un-immobilized biomass. Adsorption of Cr(III) metal ion on Chlo-Kit occured at optimum pH of 4-5 and followed well the Langmuir adsorption isotherm model. The adsorption capacity of Cr(III) on Chlo-Kit was 68.965 mg/g, about 91% higher than that on Chlorella biomass