Evaluation of removal of chromium (III) by composite porous adsorbents materials of PE-g-MA, coconut fiber and chitosan using experimental design

ABSTRACT Adsorption processes can be employed in the treatment of wastewater containing heavy metals to reduce environmental damage. However, the high cost of adsorbent materials justifies the application of alternative adsorbents, such as coconut fiber (CF) and chitosan (C). Thus, this study aimed to develop porous composite adsorbents from the mixture of grafted maleic anhydride polyethylene/CF/C/NaCl, as porogen agent (PE-g-MA/CF/C/NaCl), and evaluate statistically adsorption capacity of chromium (III) solution, with the aid of software Statistica 5.0®. The results showed that the process efficiency was influenced by the size of the CF, the content of C and the pH of the solution containing Cr (III). The maximum removal capacity of Cr (III) per unit mass of the composite was 42.28 mg.g-1.