Removal of arsenic from aqueous media using zeolite/chitosan nanocomposite membrane

In this work, the removal of arsenic (III) using zeolite/chitosan nanocomposite membranes was studied and characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscope (AFM), etc. The water contact angle of the membrane decreased from 74.2 to 59.2 degrees and the porosity of the prepared membranes increased from 20.38 to 45.81% with an increase in the concentration of zeolite. The rejection of arsenic (III) increases with increase in the zeolite loading for 500 and 1000 mu g/L; but at 100 and 150 mu g/L, the trend was opposite. The membrane with 1.0 [Chi-Z (1.0)] and 1.25 [Chi-Z (1.25)] wt% zeolite showed the highest rejection (>94%) for 1000 mu g/L concentration of arsenic trioxide aqueous solution.