Authors:

Abstract

In the present study, a novel 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (BmImBr) impregnated chitosan beads were prepared and characterized using different methods, including XRD, FT-IR, EDX, SEM and BET. The FTIR analysis revealed that the BmImBr was successfully conjugated with the chitosan in the beads structure. The prepared beads were used as an efficient sorbent for the fast removal of methylene blue, as cationic dye model, from aqueous solution, whereas just 25 min was required to reach 86% removal efficiency. The increasing of BmImBr amount improved the adsorption performance of prepared beads. Also, it was found that the dye can be higher adsorbed on the beads surface by increasing the sorbent dosage and pH of solution, while the optimum dosage and pH were obtained 3 mg/L and 11, respectively. The kinetic study showed that the MB adsorption onto the CS-BmImBr beads follows the pseudo-fist order model and the intrinsic penetration controls the adsorption process. The properties of prepared chitosan- BmImBr IL conjugation confirmed that it can be exploited as an efficient adsorbent in the wastewater treatment.