Functionalization of gum arabic including glycoprotein and polysaccharides for the removal of boron.

Bio hybrid material supported multifunctional (hydroxyproline with enriched glycoprotein) has been shown to be efficient in chelation with boron and can be used for removal of boron at ppm levels. Gum arabic (GUM) is biodegradable and nontoxic biopolymer. GUM includes GA-GP-GA-glycoprotein and polysaccharides. Hollow silica spheres (HSS) gain increasing attention, thanks to low density, high specific surface and good adsorption performance. In this study, sol-gel process was used for the preparation of HSS and was modified with epoxy group. The resulted epoxidized HSS (HSEPC) was reacted with GUM to obtain a poly saccharide derivative functional hollow silica sphere (HSGUM) for removal of boron. Characterizations of HSGUM were performed by FT-IR and SEM techniques. Adsorption isotherm and kinetic models were also applied to adsorption of boron onto HSGUM. The resulting sorbent HSGUM has been demonstrated efficient and the maximum boron sorption capacity at monolayer coverage (q) was found as average 4.10 mmol g.