Adsorption behaviour of metal ions on imprinted chitosan resin

A new method for preparation of metal ion imprinted chitosan resin, which can considerably enhance the adsorption capacity and selectivity of the metal ion is presented in this paper. The conditions influencing the preparation of chitosan imprinted resin such as the cross-linking agent, epichlororohydrin and ethylene glycol diglycidyl ether, and metal ion concentration are optimized. The chemical and the physical stability are also discussed and the imprinted chitosan resin can be used many times without losing adsorption capacity. The adsorption isotherms were studied and a new model was suggested to correlate the relationship of adsorption with pH and metal ion concentration. (C) 2001 Society of Chemical Industry.