Paper Title
Nanocellulose – Chitosan Composite Incorporated with Metal Organic Framework MIL-53(Fe) for Arsenic Removal

Abstract
Arsenic is a highly toxic contaminant often found in wastewater and ground water and it should be removed from water before releasing to the environment or consumption. In this research, a new chitosan-cellulose based adsorbent (CS-NC) for arsenic adsorption was fabricated by freeze-dry method. To improve the adsorption efficiency, the material was modified with the metal organic framework MIL-53(Fe) (CS-NC-MIL-53(Fe)). MIL-53(Fe) was successfully synthesized by the solvothermal method. The physical and chemical properties of the starting materials (i.e.nanocellulose(NC) and MIL-53(Fe)) and the compositeswere characterized by dynamic light scattering (DLS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) techniques. Whereas, the morphology and element composition of the composite could be observed by scanning electron microscope (SEM). The synthesized NC with an average size of 433.5 ±41 nmwas mixed with chitosan and MIL-53(Fe) with different weight ratio. The appropriate component ratio to form the compositewas2CS: 1NC: 1.5MIL-53(Fe). The obtained CS-NC-MIL-53(Fe) had highlyporous structureand good stability in water. The composite could adsorb As(V) and As(III) in a wide pH range from 3 to 11. The composite exhibited a maximum adsorption capacity of 11.6 mg/g of As(III) (pH 11.0) and 21.8 mg/g of As(V) (pH 5.0). The adsorption of As(III) and As(V) followed the pseudo-second-order kinetics model. Keywords - Nanocellulose-chitosancomposite, MIL-53(Fe), Arsenic removal.