Study on the flocculating properties of quaternized carboxymethyl chitosan

Summary Quaternized carboxymethyl chitosan (QCMC) was prepared through the grafting reaction of carboxymethyl chitosan (CMC) with 3-chloro-2-hydroxypropyl trimethylammonium chloride (CTA) as a quaternizing agent in 2-propanol medium under basic condition. The synthetic conditions for QCMC were as follows: 40.0% of NaOH aqueous solution as catalyst; reaction temperature, 60.0 °C and reaction time, 10.0 h; NaOH/CMC, 0.50; CTA/CMC, 1.50 (mass ratio). The characterization by FT-IR and ¹H NMR demonstrated that QCMC was a typical amphoteric chitosan derivative in which the carboxymethyl group and the quaternary ammonium group were both introduced into the chitosan molecular chain. QCMC was applied to flocculate a simulated wastewater containing 40.15 mg/L Cd(II) or 15.62 mg/L Cr(VI) respectively. The results indicated that the appropriate pH value for removal of Cd(II) and Cr(VI) were ca 8.5 and 5.0, and the appropriate corresponding mass concentrations of QCMC was 140 mg/L and 120.0 mg/L, respectively. Under these conditions, the removal ratio of Cd(II) and Cr(VI) may reach 99.7% and 94.4%, respectively.