Questions and prospects
Water treatment by chitosan: Interests and methods

Chitosan is an interesting substance for wastewater treatment. It is a natural substance, ecologically interesting and relatively inexpensive (for applications in this field). It is also a linear polyelectrolyte with a flexible, highly reactive chemical structure and a high binding potential due to its polycationicity and high charge density. This biopolymer has been the subject of numerous patents and continues to be the focus of much academic research.

Although used commercially in the treatment of drinking water (desalination) and swimming pools, and despite the numerous chitosan-based adsorbents prepared and described in the literature and its recognized use as a coagulant or polyelectrolyte in UFAC processes, chitosan is nevertheless struggling to find applications in industrial-scale wastewater treatment. There are several reasons for this: