Research progress in the treatment of uranium(VI)-contaminated wastewater by modified chitosan

With the continuous development of the nuclear industry, the amount of uranium containing wastewater discharged from the production process is increasing, which poses a great threat to the environment and human health. Therefore, it is an urgent task to find safe, environmentally friendly and efficient water treatment agents. Based on its unique molecular structure, chitosan can chemically react with anion system to adsorb pollutants, which has attracted the attention of scholars in the field of water treatment. However, the poor mechanical and adsorption properties of chitosan and the difficulty of recovery limit its development. To overcome the above shortcomings, chitosan is usually modified. In this paper, several modification methods of chitosan, including blending, crosslinking, grafting, ion imprinting and magnetization modification, are systematically described, and the advantages and disadvantages of different modification methods are analyzed. The application of modified chitosan adsorbent in uranium(VI) containing wastewater treatment is also introduced. Finally, the development trend of chitosan adsorbent in wastewater treatment is prospected.