Abstract
Recovery of mercury(II) adsorbed on highly porous polyaminated chitosan (PEI-CS) appears to be technically feasible. Desorption experiments of Hg(II) from a PEI-CS packed column were carried out using sulfuric acid solutions of different concentrations at different temperatures. The peak of the elution curve is 250 mol/m3 when the concentration of H2SO4 in the eluent is 1000 mol/m3 at 308 K. The elution curve in PEI-CS is compared with that of Unicellex UR-120H, which is considered the best commercial chelate resin available in Japan for removal of Hg(II). The peak of the elution curve in UR-120H is about one eighth at the same concentration of PEI-CS. The equilibrium isotherm and the breakthrough curve for adsorption of Hg(II) are not affected after repeated cycles of adsorption and desorption.
