Preparation of insoluble bacterial cellulose xanthate for copper ion removal

Insoluble three-dimensional bacterial cellulose xanthate (BCX) was successfully prepared by introducing xanthate groups into bacterial cellulose (BC) powder in alkaline solution. Some analytical techniques such as FTIR, SEM, TEM and BET were used to characterize the synthesized adsorbent. The adsorption properties of the resultant BCX samples for Cu²⁺ were studied. SEM and TEM showed that the obtained BCX had three-dimensional network structure with the highly interconnected pores while FTIR spectra confirmed that it had xanthate groups. The adsorption results suggested that the adsorption of Cu²⁺ followed the pseudo-second-order model and fitted well with the Freundlich isotherm model. The maximum adsorption capacity was up to 72.46 mg/g at room temperature. Notably, BCX presents an excellent stability and its adsorption capacity still retains well after four adsorption–desorption cycles.