| Abstract: | Chitin, extracted from silkworm chrysalides, was employed for the production of a high‐purity and porous chitosan, as observed by scanning electron microscopy. Chitin and the chitosan produced from it were also analysed using 13C NMR spectroscopy to show the efficiency of deacetylation. The extracted chitin was investigated as an adsorbent material for aluminium removal from textile wastewater, by the column chromatographic method. After the treatment, the residual aluminium was lower than the limitation criterion of 0.2 mg L?1. The isotherms of adsorption on chitin and chitosan surfaces were investigated and the best fits were observed using the Freundlich isotherm. At pH 5.0, the maximum adsorption capacity was 21.3 mg of aluminium per gram of chitosan over 70 h of experiments. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry |
