Simultaneous adsorption of aniline and Cr(VI) ion by activated carbon/chitosan composite

Activated carbon/chitosan composite has been used as an adsorbent to remove aniline and Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solutions simultaneously. The effects of preparation conditions such as the ratio of activated carbon to chitosan, crosslinking reagents, crosslinking time, and adsorption conditions including adsorbent dosage, pH value of solution, and contact time on simultaneous adsorption of aniline and Cr(VI) ion were investigated. Experimental results showed that epichlorohydrin was the proper crosslinking reagent, and the ratio of activated carbon to chitosan was kept at 1. When the adsorbent dosage was 4.0 g/L, and the concentrations of aniline and Cr(VI) were lower than 50 and 100 mg/L, respectively, both aniline and Cr(VI) were simultaneously removed at natural pH with high removals (>95%). The presence of Cr(VI) enhanced the adsorption of aniline, while the presence of aniline almost had no influence on the adsorption of Cr(VI). The adsorption processes of both aniline and Cr(VI) followed the pseudo‐second‐order kinetics model, but the sorption of Cr(VI) was preferential to that of aniline by this composite. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2014 , 131, 39903.