Novel Aliquat-336 impregnated chitosan beads for the adsorptive removal of anionic azo dyes

In this study, novel Aliquat-336 impregnated chitosan conjugation beads (CS–AL) were synthesised through the reaction of amino groups of chitosan with tricaprylylmethylammonium chloride. The prepared CS-AL was characterised by XRD, FTIR, SEM, EDX and BET analyses. The FTIR analysis showed that the Aliquat-336 ionic liquid was successfully inserted into the chitosan beads structure. It was used as an efficient adsorbent for the fast removal of Methyl orange and Alizarin, as two anionic azo dye models. The optimum adsorbent dosage was 2 g/L with high adsorption behaviour in a wide pH range of 7–11. The adsorption kinetics of the studied dyes onto CS-AL was well described by the pseudo-second-order model. In addition, the adsorption equilibrium study showed that it was fitted by the Langmuir isotherm model. The CS-AL beads could be easily separated by filtration after the adsorption process. The adsorption property of prepared CS–AL conjugation beads suggested it as a novel adsorbent for wastewater treatment.