Adsorbent grafted on cellulose by in situ synthesis of EDTA-like groups and its properties of metal ion adsorption from aqueous solution

This paper describes the synthesis of a novel chelating material derived from cellulose, and its heavy metal ion adsorption properties from aqueous solution. The first section of this paper reports the chemical grafting of cellulose, that amino acetic acid groups were grafted onto the cellulose by in situ synthesis, a novel yet unreported modified cellulose derivative N,N-(dicarboxymethylaminoethyl, carboxymethyl)aminoethylamine carboxymethyl cellulose amide was synthesized. This obtained adsorbent was characterized by elemental analysis, infrared spectroscopy (IR) and Solid State Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (SSNMR) 13 C NMR spectroscopy. In the second section, the adsorption of Cu 2+ and Pb 2+ from single metal ion aqueous solutions onto this adsorbent were evaluated and analyzed by the Freundlich and Langmuir models. Further more, adsorption capacity for Ba 2+ , Mg 2+ , Mn 2+ , Co 2+ , Zn 2+ , Pb 2+ , Ni 2+ and Cu 2+ , and the competitive adsorption of this adsorbent between ions were also evaluated by ICP spectroscopy. The results indicated that this modified cellulose exhibited adsorption properties similar to those of EDTA, and showed good adsorption capacity for a wide range of metal ions. Graphical abstract