X-Ray Diffraction Studies of Cross Linked Chitosan With Different Cross Linking Agents For Waste Water Treatment Application

Chitosan is a polysaccharide derived from N-deacetylation of chitin and receiving increased attention as metal ion absorbent in wastewater treatment application. To improve the performance of chitosan as an absorbent, the cross linking approach was applied. Introduction of cross-linking agent would break the crystal zone in chitosan system, making it less crystal and consequently enhanced the absorption area. Therefore, in this study, cross-linked chitosan were prepared using different of cross-linking agents. The chitosan powder was weighed, dissolved in acetic acid (0.1 M), and dropped slowly into absolute N-methyl pyyrolidone solvent containing cross-linking agent. The cross linking reaction was carried out in N-2 environment at 150 degrees C for 6 hours. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis was applied to characterize the crystallinity of native and cross linked chitosan. Generally, the XRD patterns of all types of chitosan show two crystalline peaks approximately at 10 degrees and 20 degrees (2 theta). However, the cross linked chitosan with longer length of cross linking agents show lower and broader crystalline peaks as compare to those with shorter length. Similarly, the calculated crystalline index (Cr I) also showed this decreasing tendency.