In the present work, graft copolymerization of polyacrylonitrile onto chitosan has been carried
out in the presence of ceric ammonium nitrate redox initiator. Chitosan has been used as an
adsorbent for the removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solution through adsorption
process. The property of chitosan is enhanced by grafting. The prepared copolymer was
characterized by FTIR, XRD and SEM. The effect of pH, contact time and amount of adsorbent
dose were also investigated. The adsorption kinetics of chitosan-g-polyacrylonitrile was found to
follow pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The experimental data were fitted to Langmuir
adsorption isotherms.
