LAUSR

The present work deals with extraction of Cellulose Nano Crystals (CNCs) from Banana fiber using the steam explosion method. Extracted CNCs was grafted with butyl acrylate (BA) monomer with ceric ammonium nitrate (CAN) as an initiator. The prepared graft copolymer was analyzed using FTIR, XRD, SEM and EDAX. FTIR results indicate that the CH2 type of linkages was observed in the grafted copolymer showing effective formation of grafted copolymer. XRD results elucidate the changes in the crystalline behaviour of the prepared CNCs grafted butyl acrylate copolymer. SEM images of a prepared adsorbent was appeared to be heterogeneous and covered with clusters which will be suitable for adsorption. Batch adsorption studies was carried out for the removal of Pb(II) ions from the aqueous solution using the prepared copolymer. The parameters such as effect of pH, contact time, initial metal ion concentration and adsorbent dosage was investigated. From the observed results it was concluded that, the optimum pH: 5, contact time: 360 min, adsorbent dosage: 4 g/100 mL and initial metal ion concentration: 125 mg/L. The adsorption isotherm models of Pb(II) ions could be described very well by Freundlich model and the kinetic results revealed that pseudo-second-order kinetics showed a better fit.