**4. Conclusion**

A new green adsorbent, Benzyloxyethyl cellulose crosslinked ED (BEC-ED) was successfully synthesized. The proposal structures were confirmed using vibrational spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction patterns, SEM images, x-ray EDS spectra, and TGA thermograms. The results showed that the ED crosslinking reaction of BEC engendered new structural significant modification at the crystalline and morphological levels. Ethylenediamine crosslinked BEC has been used for the removal of lead (Pb) and copper (Cu) from an aqueous system. The results revealed that the equilibrium isotherms data correlated better with the Langmuir model with a maximum adsorption capacity estimated at 50.76 mg/g and 39.68 mg/g for Pb (II) and Cu (II), respectively. In addition, the results demonstrated that the capability of BEC-ED for adsorbing Cu (II) and Pb (II) was governed by metal–ligand interactions with NH2 chelator sites of ethylenediamine, resulting in the decrease in the civility diameter from 11.50 Å to 07.34 Å for copper and 08.27 Å for lead. However, these distortions proved the lamellar structure, and the separation of the sheets was observed on the SEM images of BEC-ED after adsorption.

### **Acknowledgements**

We thank greatly the anonymous reviewers for their careful review and valuable suggestions on the manuscript. The authors are thankful to the Head of Oujda's chemistry department, Prof. Abdelmonaem TALHAOUI, for providing all the facilities and subsidies necessary to carry out the research work of this article. Our warm thanks are addressed to Prof. Gharibi EL KHADIR, Director of the Solid Mineral Solid Chemistry Laboratory – Oujda, for his sincere and persistent contributions and devoted cooperation.

### **Conflict of interest**

The authors declared that there is no conflict of interest.

*New Ethylenediamine Crosslinked 2D-Cellulose Adsorbent for Nanoencapsulation Removal… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.98709*
