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Background: Heavy metals have been recognized as harmful environmental pollutant known to produce highly toxic effects on different organs and systems of both humans and animals. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the adsorption potential of chitosan for the removal of Pb (II), Fe (II) and Cu (II) ions from aqueous solutions.

Methods: This study was conducted in laboratory scale. In this paper chitosan has been used as an adsorbent for the removal of Pb (II), Fe (II) and Cu (II) from aqueous solution. In batch tests, the effects of parameters like pH solution (1.0-8.0), initial metal concentrations (100-1000 mgL-1), contact time (5.0-150 min) and adsorbent dose (1.0-7.0 g) on the adsorption process were studied.

Results: The results showed that the adsorption of Pb (II), Fe (II) and Cu (II) ions on chitosan strongly depends on pH. The experimental isothermal data were analyzed using the Langmuir and Freundlich equations and it was found that the removal process followed the Langmuir isotherm and maximum adsorption capacity for the adsorption of Pb (II), Fe (II) and Cu (II) ions by the chitosan were 55.5 mg g− 1, 71.4 mg g− 1 and 59 mg g− 1, respectively, under equilibrium conditions at 25±1 ºC. The adsorption process was found to be well described by the pseudo-second-order rate model.

Conclusion: The obtained results showed that chitosan is a readily, available, economic adsorbent and was found suitable for removing Pb (II), Fe (II) and Cu (II) ions from aqueous solution.