Abstract
The adsorption ability of heavy metal ions from the aqueous solution by chitosan, which it is well known natural biopolymer, has been investigated. The fundamental study in this research is focusing on the physicochemical adsorption utilizing the chitosan as a organic chelating adsorbent, adsorb especially heavy metal ions from the waste liquid solution. The adsorption ability of the chitosan between metal ions, having different characteristics with Mw of 188,600, 297,200, and 504,200 g/mol and degree of deacetylation (DD) of 86.92% and 100% were investigated targeting on the $Ni^{2+}$, $Co^{2+}$, $Zn^{2+}$, and $Pb^{2+}$ ions, respectively. The uptake of heavy metal ions with chitosan was performed by atomic absorption flame emission spectrophotometer (AAS) as conducted residual metal ions. It was found that chitosan has an strong adsorption capacity for some metals under certain conditions. Chitosan, which have 100% degree of deacetylation showed high adsorption recovery ratio and have an affinity for all kinds of heavy metals. In contrast, the molecular weight of chitosan was not completely affected on metal ion adsorption.