Application of chitosan to cobalt recovery: Evaluation by factorial design of experiments

A natural polymer in a commercially available form (chitosan) has been tested using a factorial design of experiments for its application to cobalt recovery either in hydrometallurgy and in analytical separations. A simple mechanically stirred system has been used, evaluating the influence of the contact time, iron(II), cobalt (II), chitosan concentration, salinity, and pH in the separation. The pH value has a dramatic influence on the metal recovery from a negligible amount of metals at pH = 1.0 to a quantitative sorption at pH = 3.0. Linear relationships between sorbed metal and the variables have been determined at constant pH value and a quantitative evaluation of the metal recovery at different pH values can be performed using the maximum sorption capacity of the chitosan (a0) and the selectivity for both metals. The obtained results allow the evaluation of the recovery of metals using chitosan as solid phase.