Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology Advances in Environmental Technology 2476-6674 4 2 2018 04 01 Keratin nanoparticles: synthesis and application for Cu(II) removal 83 93 707 10.22104/aet.2018.2948.1143 EN Seyedeh Zahra Mousavi Department of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University,Tehran, Iran Mehrdad Manteghian Department of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University,Tehran, Iran Seyed Abbas Shojaosadati Biotechnology Group, Department of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, Iran Hassan Pahlavanzadeh Department of Chemical Engineering, Tarbiat Modares University,Tehran, Iran Journal Article 2018 06 06 A straightforward procedure to synthesize keratin nanoparticles (KNP) from chicken feathers was introduced. The characterization of the synthesized nanoparticles was done using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The FTIR analysis revealed no significant chemical change after the nanoparticle synthesis. TEM imaging indicated the synthesis of KNPs with a spherical morphology and mean size of 42 nm. The DLS results indicated that the synthesized KNPs were stable in aqueous media by having a zetapotential of lower than -30 mV. The produced KNPs were then evaluated for the biosorption of Cu (II) from aqueous solutions. The analyzed adsorption isotherm data revealed the change from a Redlich-Peterson isotherm to a Langmuir one by increasing the biosorbent dosage, which could be attributed to the more prepared adsorption sites. The experiments of the effect of the biosorbent dosage suggested the best removal at a KNP dose of 3.0 g/L. At this dosage, the maximum Cu (II) adsorption capacity and Langmuir constant were 50 mg/g and 10.8×10-3 L/mg, respectively; the adsorption kinetic followed the pseudo-second order model.  https://aet.irost.ir/article_707_500e75a036dc2d7d2fec5da1b71d36cc.pdf