Adsorptive removal of Zn, Fe, and Pb from Zn dominant simulated industrial wastewater solution using polyvinyl alcohol grafted chitosan variant resins

In this article, the efficacy of synthesized chitosan polyvinyl alcohol derivatives has been investigated for cyclic multi-heavy metal removal. Thereby, derivative resin revealed the combined benefits of chitosan and polyvinyl alcohol for multi-heavy metal removal from Zn dominant simulated industrial wastewater. Both FTIR and XRD results affirmed a strong interaction between PVA and chitosan. Batch adsorption studies were targeted for alternate choices of adsorbent-adsorbate ratio (0.2–2 g/L), contact period (5 to 720 min), and initial concentration (194.9–584.7 mg/L for Zn, 104.8–314.4 mg/L for Fe, and 2.65–7.95 mg/L for Pb). After the first cycle, the maximum adsorption capacity of 222.21, 135.14, and 4.02, respectively for Zn, Fe, and Pb was achieved for the high molecular weight chitosan-based polyvinyl alcohol derivative (high CSPVA). The alternate equilibrium and kinetic model based studies respectively confirmed the homogeneous and chemisorptive behavior of the adsorption. The cyclic desorption and regeneration studies inferred that the high CSPVA derivative resin has been highly efficient and useful sorbent for Zn, Fe, and Pb removal. Thereby, the investigations assure confidence in the relevance of the mentioned resin for real scenarios that demand the treatment of industrial multi-heavy metal containing wastewater systems.