Chitosan-Modified Smectite Clay and Study on Adsorption- Desorption of Urea

Abstract

This work presented a laboratory studies on the preparation of chitosan-modified clay and the study on urea adsorption-desorption. Modified clay was prepared by intercalating chitosan into layer structure of smectite clay; saponite and montmorillonite. Physicochemical character of the materials was conducted by using XRD, GSA, SEM-EDX and FTIR. Materials capability in adsorption-desorption of urea from aqueous solution was performed in a batch reactor and the urea content was determined by using HPLC analysis.
Results show that chitosan-modified clay exhibits the intercalation interaction as shown by increasing d₀₀₁ of the clay structure while the specific surface area and pore volume were decreased. Stronger interaction between urea and the composites were identified from kinetics of adsorption and desorption and suggests the potency of the materials for designing slow release fertilizer.