Implementation of chitosan inductively modified by γ-rays copolymerization with acrylamide in the decontamination of aqueous basic dye solution

The modification induced by gamma rays for the natural polymer, chitosan, was established using the monomer acrylamide. The hydrogel obtained was characterized using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and the thermal properties were investigated by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The effect of absorbed dose (kGy) and chitosan:acrylamide ratio on the gel % was studied. The impact of the polymerization variables was observed on the swelling % of the prepared hydrogel with water. The highest equilibrium degree of swelling of the prepared chitosan-AAm hydrogel, 380 g/g was predicted at 75% AAm and absorbed dose of 10 kGy for 97.7% gel. The removal of the basic blue dye (Astrazone Blue BG-200%) from aqueous solutions was discussed. The adsorption capacity of basic dye on chitosan-AAm increased from 24.5 to 47.2 mg/g by increasing pH from 4.0 to 9.0. The effect of pH, absorbed dose, chitosan:AAm ratio and the concentration of the dye on the effectiveness of the adsorption process was studied.