Removal of Cu2+ and Zn2+ ions using chitosan and chitosan composite

Heavy metal pollution in water poses a severe threat to public health. Pollution by heavy metals is a serious hazard to aquatic ecosystems because some of these metals are potentially toxic, even at very low concentrations. Various adsorbents have been used to remove different types of heavy metal ions from wastewater especially those that are harmful to mankind. Use of natural polymers as biosorbents for heavy metal removal is advantageous. Recently, chitosan as biosorbents has been wildly used for removing metal ions from wastewater Because of the unique chemical structure chitosan and its derivatives based adsorbents have received excessive attention over the past few decades due to its outstanding adsorption behavior toward various toxic heavy metals from aqueous solutions. This review presents the preparation approaches of modified chitosan (MCS) and its applications for reducing and removing metallic ions have been summarized. A list of chitosan composites with their adsorption capacity and the experimental conditions has been compiled.