Poly(Poly(Ethylene Glycol) Methyl Ether Methacrylate) Grafted Chitosan for Dye Removal from Water

As the demand for textile products and synthetic dyes increases with the growing global population, textile dye wastewater is becoming one of the most significant water pollution contributors. Azo dyes represent 70% of dyes used worldwide, and are hence a significant contributor to textile waste. In this work, the removal of a reactive azo dye (Reactive Orange 16) from water by adsorption with chitosan grafted poly(poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) (CTS-GMA-g-PPEGMA) was investigated. The chitosan (CTS) was first functionalized with glycidyl methacrylate and then grafted with poly(poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate) using a nitroxide-mediated polymerization grafting to approach. Equilibrium adsorption experiments were carried out at different initial dye concentrations and were successfully fitted to the Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption isotherm models. Adsorption isotherms showed maximum adsorption capacities of CTS-g-GMA-PPEGMA and chitosan of 200 mg/g and 150 mg/g, respectively, while the Langmuir equations estimated 232 mg/g and 194 mg/g, respectively. The fundamental assumptions underlying the Langmuir model may not be applicable for azo dye adsorption, which could explain the difference. The Freundlich isotherm parameters, n and K, were determined to be 2.18 and 17.7 for CTS-g-GMA-PPEGMA and 0.14 and 2.11 for chitosan, respectively. An n value between one and ten generally indicates favorable adsorption. The adsorption capacities of a chitosan-PPEGMA 50/50 physical mixture and pure PPEGMA were also investigated, and both exhibited significantly lower adsorption capacities than pure chitosan. In this work, CTS-g-GMA-PPEGMA proved to be more effective than its parent chitosan, with a 33% increase in adsorption capacity.