Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Carbohydrate Polymers journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/carbpol Research Paper New quaternized cellulose based on hydroxyethyl cellulose (HEC) grafted EDTA: Synthesis, characterization and application for Pb (II) and Cu (II) removal Issam Jilal a , Soufian El Barkany b, ⁎ , Zahra Bahari a , Ola Sundman c , Abderahmane El Idrissi d , Mohamed Abou-Salama b , Abderrahmane Romane e , Chahid Zannagui f , Hassan Amhamdi f a Laboratory of Solid, Mineral and Analytical Chemistry (LSMAC), Faculty of Sciences (FSO), Mohamed 1st University, 60000 Oujda, Morocco b Department of Chemistry, Multidisciplinary Faculty (FPN), Mohamed 1st University, 60700 Nador, Morocco c Department of Chemistry, Umeå University, SE-901 87 Umeå, Sweden d Laboratory of Applied Chemistry and Environmental (LCAE-URAC18), Faculty of Sciences (FSO), Mohamed 1st University, 60000 Oujda, Morocco e Laboratory of Applied Organic Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences Semlalia (FSS), Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakech, Morocco f Laboratory of Physical Chemistry of the Natural Resources and Environment, Faculty of Sciences and Techniques (FSTH), Med I University, 32 003 Al Hoceima, Morocco ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Quaternized cellulose EDTAEdta Adsorption capacity Lead Copper Langmuir isotherm ABSTRACT In this paper, new quaternized cellulose derivative based on Ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA) and hy- droxyethyl cellulose (HEC) is successfully prepared in homogeneous medium. The resulted product is char- acterized using spectroscopy techniques (FTIR, 1 H NMR and 13 C NMR). At the supramolecular level, the x-ray patterns show that a high hydrogen bond density occurs by grafting EDTA on the HEC fibers. The new adsorbent (HEC-EDTA) shows a high adsorption capacity of heavy metals (Pb (II) and Cu (II)) from aqueous metals so- lutions. The adsorption of the both metal ions follows the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, while the ad- sorption isotherms are well described by the Langmuir model. The q m values are determined for Pb (II) and Cu (II), respectively. For each metal, the equilibrium adsorption time is found to be 30 min. Moreover, the HEC- EDTA adsorption capacity is strongly dependent on the pH value; and the adsorption is favorable for pH values between 4 and 6. Moreover, the results show a high affinity toward Cu (II) than Pb (II). 1. Introduction Anthropogenic contamination of water constitutes one of the major genes, and their depollution becomes a necessity (Labidi, Saad, & Abderrabba, 2015). Pollution reduction processes are highly dependent on the nature of pollution and organic pollutants are bio- degraded or metabolized (Schmitzer, Chen, Scheunert, & Korte, 1989), while heavy metals are stable, and have adverse effects on living or- ganisms even at low doses (Arain et al., 2008). The elimination of heavy metals opens up a vast scientific research area using different techniques such as reverse osmosis (Xu, Zhao, Huang, Guo, & Liu, 2017), electrodialysis (Pedersen et al., 2017), ul- trafiltration (Huang, Yuan et al., 2017), precipitation (Dermentzis, Davidis, Papadopoulou, Christoforidis, & Ouzounis, 2009), chemical oxidation-reduction (Li et al., 2016) and ion exchange (Huang & Chen 2009) etc. However, the most interesting method is adsorption process on solid supports because of its simplicity and efficiency (Daneshfozouna, Nazirb, Abdullaha, & Abdullaha, 2014). The adsorbents must be environmentally friendly and several efforts are reported including the synthesis of special bioadsorbents deriving from renewable, biodegradable and biopolymers such as cellulose (Chitpong & Husson 2017), Chitin (Labidi, Salaberria, Fernandes, Labidi, & Abderrabba, 2016), chitosan (Ghaee, Shariaty-Niassar, Barzin, & Zarghan, 2012), etc. In view of the environmental constraints, the applications of bio- materials are developed at an increasing rate. However, Yongli Zhang et al. have demonstrated that the composite Graphene oxide/carbox- ymethyl cellulose monoliths improve the metal ion adsorption (Zhang et al., 2014). In addition, the valorization of biosources provides the opportunity to develop new smart-materials with new and advanced properties for a vast area of applications. E.g. self-photostabilizing UV- durable bionanocomposite membranes (Kushwaha, Avadhani, & Singh, 2015), composites with facet-dependent photocatalytic properties on degradation of organic dyes (Zhou et al., 2016), controlled drug release behavior (Rana, Kushwaha, Singh, Mishra, & Ha, 2010) and selective removal of toxic dyes (Pal & Pal, 2017). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.carbpol.2017.10.012 Received 6 May 2017; Received in revised form 1 October 2017; Accepted 3 October 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail address: el.barkany011@gmail.com (S. El Barkany). Carbohydrate Polymers 180 (2018) 156–167 Available online 07 October 2017 0144-8617/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. MARK