IOP Publishing Journal Title

Journal XX (XXXX) XXXXXX https://doi.org/XXXX/XXXX

A REVIEW : ROLE OF CELLULOSE AND CHITOSAN FOR ADSORPTION OF HEAVY METALS

Lia Cundari1, Mutiara Tri Wahyuni2, Alexander Eric Marasson3, Ade Azmi4, Zianka Audy Shesaruny5, Kevin6
Departement of Chemical Engineering, Universitas of Sriwijaya, Inderalaya, Ogan Ilir 30662
E-mail: liacundari@ft.unsri.ac.id

Abstract
Rapid industrialization and modernization have introduced substantial amounts of toxic heavy metals into the aquatic and
terrestrial environment which possess a serious threat to the flora and fauna. In recent years, considerable research work has
been done and is currently underway on a number of natural biopolymers and their modifications to remove different kinds of
heavy metal ions. Chitosan and cellulose, both naturally occurring polysaccharides are the most effective adsorbents for the
removal of heavy metal ions from waste water. This review is aimed to provide relevant and recent information on the
application of chitosan, cellulose and their respective derivatives for the removal of toxic heavy metal ions. The amount of
research that has been done has proven that chitosan and cellulose as based material can reduce levels of heavy metals in
aqueous solution, water and wastewater treatment.

Keywords: Chitosan, Cellulose, Adsorbent, Heavy Metal, Adsroption.

chitin is made up of β–(l→4) linkages of N–acetyl–D

1. Introduction
Today’s world is faced with serious dangers of air,
land and water pollutions. Water pollution in particular, has
raised serious concerns. In addition to the shortage of
resources of water, production of large volumes of wastewater
has put a lot of pressure on the humankind. The conventional
technologies like coagulation flocculation, oxidation,
membrane separation, ion exchange, electro precipitation,
evaporation and floatation are inadequate to deal with the
wastewater treatment problem. Adsorption is known to be one
of the best of the technologies for the decontamination of
water. Even though activated carbon based technology is still
used for treating wastewater, it is not cost and energy efficient.
Hence adsorption using low cost adsorbents has become an
attractive choice. Biopolymers such as chitosan and cellulose
present an interesting option [23]. A number of studies have
been made for the adsorptive removal of heavy metals and
dyes utilizing cellulose and chitosan based materials
[3;13;30;31;46].
Cellulose and chitosan constitute the first and second
most abundant biopolymers on earth. They are natural,
renewable, environmentally benign, cost efficient, non toxic,
biodegradable and biocompatible [7]. Cellulose is majorly
derived from plant sources such as grasses, reeds, stalks and
woody parts of the vegetation. Animals, algae, fungi,
amoebae, cellular slime molds, green algae and bacteria also
contribute in the production of celluloses [4]. Cellulose
consists of over ten thousand repeating units of β (l→4)–D–
glucose linkages and has the formula (C 6H10O5)n while
chitosan which is normally derived from de–acetylation of
glucosamine and D–glucosamine. Chitosan is found mainly in
crustacean shells such as shrimp, crab, lobster, crawfish, and
cell walls of fungi as well as cuticles of insects [19].
With the advancement in nanosciences, development
of cellulose and chitosan based materials having nano sizes
has become possible. Cellulose and chitosan become materials
of choice because of attractive surface area, chemical
accessibility, ease of functionalization and absence of internal
diffusion [6;1;37]. A fairly good amount of literature is
available for the adsorption of heavy metals and dyes by
employing these potential adsorbents.
2. Properties
2.1. Cellulose
Cellulose-based materials are abundant, cheap and have
low or little economic value. Diferent forms of cellulosic
materials are used as adsorbents such as fibers, leaves, roots,
shells, barks, husks, stems and seed as well as other parts also.
Jalali and Aboulghazi investigated the feasibility of sunfower
stalks for lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd) metal ion adsorption
[18]. Batch adsorption studies were conducted to study the
efect of contact time, initial concentration, pH and adsorbent
doses on the removal of Cd(II) and Pb(II) metal ions at room
temperature. Elemental mercury adsorbents were successfully
synthesized from the coconut husk wastes using diferent
surface treatment methods [21]. The surface morphology and
surface functional groups of these adsorbents signifcantly
changed after mercerization and bleaching treatments and
resulted in diferent adsorption performances. Most of the
adsorption studies were conducted using untreated cellulosic
materials and only a few of them show good adsorption

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Journal XX (XXXX) XXXXXX
potential. However, the performance of these adsorbents has
been remarkably afected upon physical and chemical
treatment.
Cellulose is abundant in hydroxyl groups which can
anchor other functionalities through a variety of chemical
modifcations. Modifcation of cellulose involves the direct
modifcation and monomer grafting. Direct cellulose
modification in the preparation of adsorbent materials is
esterifcation, etherifcation, halogenation, oxidation, alkaline
treatment and silynation. Chemically modifed cellulose
bearing Schif’s base and carboxylic acid groups was
synthesized for the removal of Cu(II) and Pb(II) from aqueous
solutions [35]. This novel green adsorbent was synthesized by
periodate oxidation of cellulose followed by condensation
reaction with p-aminobenzoic acid for the Schif’s base
forming reaction. In another study, chemically modified
cellulose bearing Schif base extracted from Sesbania sesban
plant was synthesized via a novel method using 2-hydroxy- 5-
methyl benzaldehyde for the removal of Cd(II) [28].
Developed an adsorbent via carbomethylation and cross-
linking reactions from waste lyocell fabric to produce
carbomethyl cellulose adsorbent for the removal of Cd(II) [5].
This adsorbent displayed approximately 17 times greater
metal uptake than the original material and at neutral and
alkaline pH.
2.2. Chitosan
Chitosan is considered as a precious organic
biocomponent polymer because of its nontoxicity,
biodegradability [11;12], easily bioabsorbablity [44],
mucoadhesivity [14;36] and also showing gel forming ability
at acidic pH [39]. Due to all described interesting properties
chitosan has been built as an ideal polymer for formulation of
pollution controlling tools. Chitosan is prepared from N-
deacetylation of chitn that forms a naturally occuring muco
polysaccharide in abundance that forms the exoskeleton of
aquatic animals, insects etc. It consist of 2-acetamido 2-deoxy-
Dglucose monomer units linked through a β (1→4) linkage
[33]. Chitosan is prepared by alkaline hydrolysis of chitin with
NaOH at 120oC for 1-3 hr as stated by chemical reaction in
Scheme 1. The chemical reaction of chitin carried out as
alkaline hydrolysis produces 40-80 % deacetylated chitosan.
In fact, chitosan is a hetero polymer constituting (1→ 4) 2-
amino 2-deoxy -D-glucose unit with (1→4) 2-acetamido-2-
deoxy- - D-glucose units of original chitin in polymeric chain.
The proportion of 2-amino-2-deoxy- -D-glucopyranose
units to 2-acetamido-2-deoxy- -D glucopyranose, named as
the degree of deacetylation is an important parameter, that
determines the polymer’s solution making properties. There
are numerous methods for analyzing and estimating this
parameter published in existing literature. Conversion of
chitin into chitosan lowers the molecular weight due to
deacetylation and the charge distribution in acidic solvent is
originated due to amino group formation. Chitosan is an
extensively alkaline polysaccharide, so it can be capable to
obtain poly oxysalts, chelate with metal ions, and other
molecular derivatives [15]. It forms solution in weak acids like
acetic acid, formic acid, etc. It has the characteristic of
2
Author et al.
forming hydrogels that are highly swollen, hydrophilic
polymer networks, competent to absorb water.
3. Recent Developments in Heavy Metal Adsorption
3.1. Using Cellulose
There are several research that studied about adsorption
heavy metal using cellulose that related to some new method
who can advance learning about adsorption itself, make a new
developments which is making a renewable cellulose
adsorption materials with high performance, like the study
about cellulose that base on bio adsorbent [43] to remove
Cu(II) namely carboxymethylated cellulose fiber (CMF), was
successfully fabricated from the natural cellulose fibers using
a simple controllable carboxymethylation modification. CMF
prepared bio adsorbent was capable of removing Cu(II) in a
more efficient way in comparison with the unmodified fibers,
which increased 130 times of adsorption capacity (from
0.18mg/g) of SKF to 23.48mg/g of CMF at the equilibrium
adsorption capacity). The CMF bioadsorbent also showed
selective adsorption in the mixed ions solution (16.90 mg/g of
Cu(II) vs 11.63mg/g of Ni(II)). The Cu(II) was adsorbed by
CMF via surface complexation and electrostatic interaction
and the adsorption efficiency of CMF was affected by its
charges, especially its inner charges.
Recent developments also showed that [27] modified
nano cellulose can be used to make suitable filters for removal
of metals ions from contaminated water. Physical parameters
such as bulk density, tapped density, swelling capacity, degree
of crystallinity, crystal size and surface morphology of
cellulose nanofibrils were dependent on the biomass used.
Modification of nano cellulose with citric acid was dependent
on the amount citric acid used. Citric acid modified cellulose
can be used as an adsorbent for removal of heavy metals from
water.
The other developments [22] obtained high adsorption
capacity of the tested adsorbents makes it preferable and very
cheap and environmental friendly alternative adsorption
material. Removal of toxic metals Cr(VI) from artificially
contaminated water was the parameter that has been studied to
proved this theory. Detoxifying industrial effluents before
their safe disposal onto land or into the river was the aim of
this studied. Two low-cost natural adsorbents, Palm Kernel
fiber and Coconut husks, were used to remove Cr(VI) ion from
synthesized waste water. The result showed an increase in
removal efficiency with increase in contact time and decrease
of initial concentration generally. The results showed that
efficiencies of ACNH and APKF for Cr(VI) ion removal were
91.14%, and 84.89% respectively,.
Recent developments also showed that [17] CHA/MFC is
an easily handled, natural and environmentally. It is also a
friendly absorbent with excellent removal efficiency for
metals and phosphorus, and moderate removal efficiency for
nitrates. This developments focused on the adsorption of Ni2+,
Cd2+, PO43- and NO3 from aqueous solution using the
CHA/MFC as adsorbent. Adsorption of Ni2+, Cd(II), PO43- and
NO3 was found to be independent of the initial pH due to the
Journal XX (XXXX) XXXXXX
amphoteric and buffering properties of CHA/MFC. The
adsorption of this development showed that CHA modified
MFC was very effective for Ni2+, Cd2+ and PO43- removal from
aqueous solution; adsorption efficiency was >90%. The
adsorption efficiency for NO3 was >50%. Equilibrium
isotherm data was fitted using Langmuir and Sips models.
Among these models, Sips model was in good agreement with
the experimental data with high R2. Kinetic studies showed
very fast adsorption for all adsorbates. The mechanism of
adsorption includes mainly ionic interactions (ion-exchange)
between adsorbates and CHA/MFC. The adsorption–
desorption cycle results demonstrated that the regeneration
and subsequent use the CHA/MFC would enhance the
economics of practical applications for the removal of Ni 2+
and Cd2+ from water and wastewater.
There are also a Cellulose Acetate Membrane (CAM)
[24] (that possible to be used as an alternative adsorbent for
the removal of heavy metal ions from environmental water
samples which has been prepared by using a casting technique
was utilized as an adsorbent for heavy metal ions adsorption.
The CAM was characterized by Field Emission Scanning
Electron Microscopy (FESEM), BET surface area (BET) and
Fourier Transform Infrared Analysis (FTIR). The adsorption
of Cu(II) and Cd(II) ions on CAM were investigated. The
influences of several variables such as pH, adsorbance dosage,
initial metal concentration, kinetic parameter, desorption and
reusability on the adsorption capacity of the CAM was
investigated in a batch adsorption mode. The adsorption
capacity increased with the increasing of initial concentration
of Cu(II) and Cd(II) solutions and followed the Freundlich
model and pseudo second order kinetic mechanism.
Desorption of metal ions was accomplished with 1 M
Sulphuric acid and Hydrochloric acid solution for Cu(II) and
Cd(II) ions. The adsorption capacity did not change
significantly in reusability study when three adsorption
experimental cycles were conducted.
3.2. Using Chitosan
A review of various research that studied about
adsorption and adsorbents for heavy metal removal shows that
adsorption process has great potential for the elimination of
heavy metal from water sample using Chitosan as a low-cost
biopolymer adsorbent which lead us to a new method and new
developments about adsorption heavy metal using chitosan. In
addition, the study concluded that the use of [32] Chitosan for
heavy metal removal appears to be technically feasible, eco-
friendly and with high efficacy. Like, [20] a studied that
proved that Ag+ could be adsorbed and thus higher significant
amount was removed by CTS-MMT composite bead from
aqueous solution. The maximum adsorption capacity of CTS-
MMT composite bead was higher than those CTS bead. The
Agremoval was increased with the increase of contact time
and amount of adsorbent. The optimum pH value for Ag +
removal was found to be 6-7. The equilibrium data could be
described by the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm equation.
However, the Langmuir model better represented the sorption
process than the Freundlich model. The maximum adsorption
capacity of CTS-MMT composite bead was 43.48 mg/g at
3
Author et al.
initial pH 6 for 10 mg/L (Ag+) solution. Kinetic modeling
results showed that the pseudo second order equation was
appropriated for the description of this type of adsorption and
removal. This study revealed that desorption of the the CTS
and CTS-MMT composite bead provide the potential for
reused after Ag+ adsorption.
Other research lead us to new developments [40]that
chitosan could be a good candidate to remove heavy metals
from wastewater. Chitosan was successfully synthesized from
shrimp shells available in Sri Lanka. FTIR spectrum of
chitosan showed all the characteristics bond energies of
standard chitosan sample. Adsorption rate depend on the DD
value and initial pH value of the solution. Significantly high
rate of adsorption was observed in the chitosan which has
higher DD value. According to the results, high pH values are
preferred for good adsorption. Kineticmodels were fitted to
the experimental results and from that it can be concluded that
the adsorption of cadmium and lead heavy metals were
controlled by the adsorption reaction and not by the mass
transfer.
Other simple method was [42] developed that CO
materials is the materials which can be more economical
option than regeneration. This statements known from
considering the low cost of CTS–MMT and the highly
enriched CO2+ content of spent adsorbent, centralized disposal
with other treatments to recycle to prepare CTS–MMT
composites, whose formation was confirmed by XRD and FT-
IR results. Greatly enhanced adsorption of CO2+ was achieved
on CTS–MMT in comparison with CTS or MMT alone, and
was dependent on the specific experimental conditions and the
molecular weight of CTS. Irrespective of the initial
concentration of CO2+, CTS–MMT with mass ratio 0.25
(CTS:MMT) showed better performance for CO2+ adsorption
than other samples, and the maximum value was 150 mg/g.
The adsorption isotherms of CO2+ on the composites were best
fitted by the Temkin equation, indicating multilayer
adsorption of CO2+. Kinetics study of this method revealed
that the adsorption of CO2+ on CTS–MMT followed the
pseudo second-order equation, indicating that chemical
sorption is the rate-limiting step. Thermodynamic parameters
such as ΔG, ΔH, and ΔS were also evaluated to understand the
nature of sorption. As discussed above, the adsorption of CO2+
over CTS–MMT is a chemical process due to the formation of
CO2+ complexes with amine (NH2) and hydroxyl (OH) groups
and the parameters ΔG and ΔS also suggest that the process is
spontaneous and irreversible. Thus, the regeneration of this
synthesized material is difficult using common methods such
as washing, calcination and others.
4. Mechanisms of Adsorption
Water treatment waste is one example of waste that must
be treated because it contains various substances that are
harmful to the ecosystem in an environment. one of the
hazardous substances in an ion is heavy metal. there are many
ways that can be used to reduce or even eliminate these
harmful substances. On the other hand, other metals such
as cadmium, lead, arsenic and mercury can damage
numerous biochemical pathways even at low concentration
Journal XX (XXXX) XXXXXX
[1]. One half of the world’s population lives now in
urbanized areas, hence are subjected to the effect of
toxicity caused by these elements, which presents a serious
issue for public health. In the light of this, heavy metals are
metals having a density greater than 5 g/cm3 [8]. This
classification includes transition metals and higher atomic
weight metals of group III to V of the periodic table.
The term ‘heavy metals’ originate with reference to the
harmful effects of cadmium, mercury and lead, all of which
are denser than iron. Various treatment technologies
employed for the removal of heavy metals berinclude
chemical precipitation, ion exchange, chemical oxidation,
reduction, reverse osmosis, ultrafiltration, electrodialysis
and adsorption [10]. Among these methods, adsorption is
the most efficient as the other techniques have inherent
limitations such as the generation of a large amount of
sludge, low efficiency, sensitive operating conditions and
costly disposal. The adsorption method is a relatively new
process and is emerging as a potentially preferred
alternative for the removal of heavy metals because it
provides flexibility in design, high-quality treated effluent
and is reversible and the adsorbent can be regenerated The
method that can be used for adsorption is using cellulose and
chitosan.
4.1. Mechanism of Adsorbtion Using Cellulose
Cellulose used in the adsorption process is modified
cellulose. Cellulose that had been modified for example is
nano cellulose. To function as an adsorbent, nano cellulose
must be used to introduce active sites into its structure. This
adsorption mechanism can be confirmed by the results of
FTIR spectra of modified cellulose citric acid where there is a
strong band that is characteristic of the carbonyl ester group.
The absorption peak of about 3355 cm-1 also confirmed the
presence of O-H carboxylic groups (2500-3500 cm-1) after
modification of citric acid [27].
Another base for modified cellulose is
Carboxymethylation of Cellulose Fiber (CMF). The carboxyl
group (-COOH) is introduced to the cellulose chain during the
carboxymethylation process. The carboxyl group is a group
that has an ion exchange capacity to absorb metal cations
during processing. It can be observed that the CMF adsorption
peak of Na element, while the peak of Cu element appears in
a metal-loaded CMF sample. This shows that Na was replaced
in exchange for Cu (II) after the adsorption process. After
replacing the Na + ion, the carboxyl group on the adsorbent
(CMF) becomes negatively charged and thus ready to attract
positively charged Cu (II) ions [43].
The last modification of cellulose used was modified
carbon microfibrillated cellulose (MFC) carbonated
hydroxyapatite (CHA) In the case of metals, ion-exchange
between the calcium and the bivalent ion is one possibility.
The heavy metal replaces the calcium in the CHA lattice. The
adsorption of PO43- or NO3- ions can be best explained as
exchange of ions. Probably OH ions are exchanged by PO4 3-
or NO3- ions. The adsorption mechanism that occurs is the ion
exchange process between adsorbates with CHA and MFC.
The adsorption-desorption cycle results from regeneration and
4
Author et al.
subsequent use of CHA / MFC would enhance the economics
of practical applications for removal of Ni2+ and Cd2+ from
water and waste water[16].
All the above data proved that modified cellulose-based
heavy metal adsorbent had a good adsorption for Cu2+.
Chemical adsorption was major along with relatively quick
physical adsorption. Adsorption mechanism was generally
believed to be the oordination reaction between Cu2+ and S
atom from adsorption group. Offered the proposed adsorption
mechanism of Cu2+ for cellulose-based heavy metal
adsorbent from aqueous solution. Reaction mechanism of
chelation reaction [38]. The adsorption for cellulose-based
adsorbent was complicated, and it was mainly realized by
chelation reaction. However, the following redox reaction
might take place as well [45].
The removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions
by amine functionalized cellulose pretreated with microwave
H2O2. According to the aforementioned results, the enhanced
metal ion adsorption capacity of PEI/SA-MCCMV may be
attributed to the introduction of –NH2 and –COOH groups on
the cellulose surface, and the main mechanism for Cd(II) and
Pb(II) removal is chelating adsorption. The amino groups are
mainly responsible for the uptake of metal ions as follows.In
consideration of the main existing forms of these heavy metal
ions in an aqueous solution, the probable adsorption
mechanism can be expressed in three steps [25;26].
4.2. Mechanism of Adsorbtion Using Chitosan
Just like cellulose, chitosan used is also a modified
chitosan (CTS-MMT). In the process of Co2+ and Ag2+ ion
adsorption using chitosan-montmorillonmechanical system
that occurs is a chemical process because the formation of
Co2+ and Ag2+ complexes with amine groups (-NH2) and
hydroxyl (-OH) ΔGθ and ΔSθ parameters can also show that
the process is spontaneous and irreversible [20]. Thus, the
regeneration of the material synthesized is difficult to use
public methods such as washing, calcination and others.
Considering the low cost of using CTS-MMT and the highly
enriched Co2+ content of used adsorbents, centralized disposal
from other treatments to recycle related materials is a more
economical choice than the regeneration process [42].
Chitosan is the process of making chitosan which has
been modified. Chitosan has gone through the process of
removing protein and minerals before use. The percentage of
metal transfer to the active group depends on the molecular
structure of 390 sorbent compounds, which are associated
with metal ions through coordination of 391 bonds. In our 393
results, we found that removal of various types of metals on
the surface of compounds (I) and (II) was lower than the 395
Chitosan itself. this can arise because it is caused by the
presence of molecular hydrogen bond formation between the
substitution group and 397 chitosan monomer units, which
leads to a decrease in 398 free active groups such as OH - and
NH2- in Chitosan. That causes a reduction in metal ions. While
free of chitosan 400 achieved by the free active group, the
cessation adsorption capacity is higher than the derivative[29].
Highly Deacetylated Chitosan as Low-cost.Adsorbent
Material for Removal of Heavy Metals from Water. The
Journal XX (XXXX) XXXXXX Author et al.

process was performed by using chitosan to reduce the high donor reactivity of the OH groups [3]. In particular, two
concentration of heavy metals from the water samples by main approaches have been tried in the conversion of cellulose
packing a column with the chitosan in a burette. The effect of into compounds capable of adsorbing heavy metals.
pH in this research was due to the rupture of the internal Adsorption capacities and experimental conditions of vhitosan
hydrogen bonds caused by a swelling of chitosan, followed and cellulose for removal of various heavy metals are shown
by the protonation of the amino group with water as a in table 1.
proton donor [34]. In addition, chitosan acts as a weak base.
At low pH, amino group of the chitosan takes the proton
available in the water sample This reduces the concentration
of H+ ions and raises the pH of the solution thereby
improving the adsorption performance of chitosan. [11].
4.3. Relevance of Cellulose and Chitosan Adsorbents
Cellulose and chitosan based materials are viewed as a
potential solution for heavy metals treatment problem.
Removal of heavy metals using cellulose and chitosan
adsorbents is thought of as an alternate technology for energy
efficient and economically feasible. Cellulose has similar
chemical structures as chitosan. Chitosan has an amine
functional group which strongly reacts with metal ions,
considerable research has been done on the uptake of metal
cations by chitosan. Meanwhile, cellulose also proposed the
swollen fiber structure would become particularly important
in the preparation of cellulose-based superabsorbent materials
on heavy metal ions removal. As cellulose and chitosan as
such do not exhibit fair adsorption performance, they need to
be tailored suitably to obtain a positive outcome. Modifyng
them are useful in overcoming the weakness of absorption
with physical and chemical methods. The adsorption method
is emerging as a potentially preferred alternative for the
removal of heavy metals because it provides flexibility in
design, high quality treated effluent and is reversible and the
adsorbent can be regenerated. Overall, cellulose and chitosan
are highly relevant for their usage in removal heavy metals Table 1. Shows Adsorption Capacities and Experimental
and become the materials of choice for removal heavy metals Conditions of Chitosan and Cellulose for Removal of Various
as they present superior properties for adsorption. Heavy Metals
4.4. Summary 5. Conclusions and Future Perspectives
Cellulose and chitosan are known for their abundance, From the recent development method in adsorption heavy
renewable nature, biodegradability, versatility and ease of metal, we can conclude that heavy metal can be removed by
structural modification. Adsorption efficiency of chitosan and using chitosan and cellulose in water. A review of various
cellulose is not good enough in pure form. Therefore, processes and adsorbents for heavy metals removal shows that
modification of chitosan and cellulose is necessary to increase adsorption process has great potential for the elimination of
the adsorption capacities and their applicability in different heavy metal from water sample using chitosan as a low-cost
mediums. Chitosan is a versatile polyaminosachride produced biopolymer adsorbent. In addition, the study concluded that
bnm y alkaline N-deacetylation of chitin to involving process the use of Chitosan for heavy metal removal appears to be
of deproteination, demineralization, and deacetylation. Owing technically feasible, eco-friendly and with high efficacy. The
to many attractive properties such as hydrophilicity, further research on renewable cellulose fiber-based adsorption
biocompatibility, biodegradability, non-toxicity, and presence materials with high performance on heavy metal ions removal
of very reactive amino (-NH2) and hydroxyl (-OH) groups in in effluent treatment. In brief, Chitosan and cellulose can be a
its backbone, chitosan has been used as an effective material good material for adsorbing heavy metal, it can be proved that
for the removal of heavy metals. Cellulose consists of βD- Both of these polymers could be used as alternative to replace
glucopyranose repeat units which are covalently linked by the traditional, costly and environmentally toxic adsorbents
acetal functionalities between the equatorial OH group on currently used for adsorption of heavy metals. Adsorption
carbon atom (C4) and carbon atom (C1), hence the name β- efficiency of chitosan and cellulose is not good enough in pure
1,4-glucan. This molecular structure gives cellulose a form; therefore, modification of these biopolymers is
characteristic property of hydrophilicity, chirality and necessary to increase the adsorption capacities and their
degradability. Chemical reactivity is largely a function of the applicability in different mediums. This field of research has

5
Journal XX (XXXX) XXXXXX
a vast area for improvement in the hope that biopolymers can
be applied commercially instead of laboratory scale.
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