Investigation of the Efficiency of Chitin Nano-Fiber gel in Removal of Lead from Aqueous Solutions

Lead is one of the most dangerous and toxic elements that is considered a serious threat to human and the environment. One of the effective technologies for removing this metal from wastewater is use the adsorption with natural adsorbents. The main objective of this study was to investigate the chitin Nano-fiber as natural absorption for removal of lead metal from aqueous solutions in a discontinuous system. X-ray diffraction (XRD), infrared spectrometer (FT-IR) and transient electron microscopy (TEM) were used to identify the physical, chemical and structural characteristics of chitin Nano-fiber. In the discontinuous system, pH (4-9), absorption dose (0.1-1 g), contact time (15-120 min), lead initial concentration (10-50 mg/L) and temperature (15-40 °C) were studied. The results were analyzed by one-way ANOVA and Duncan's tests for significant evaluation of changes in parameters. The highest percentage of removal of lead (98.95%.) was obtained at 25 °C, pH 5, 60 min contact time, absorbent dose of 0.3 g and lead concentration of 10 mg/L. The results of this study showed that chitin Nano-fiber is considered as an optimal absorber for removal of lead from aqueous solutions by removing more than 98% of lead from aqueous solutions.