A novel wood-based adsorbent material was developed for removal of harmful anions from drinking water.First

wood pulp was partially oxidized by sodium periodate to form dialdehyde-modified cellulose; secondly

the aldehyde groups were coupled with polyethylene polyamine via Schiff base reaction to give amino-modified cellulose-based cationic adsorbent material.All reactions could be performed by mild and facile procedures.The adsorption performance of amino-modified cellulose-based cationic adsorbent against F-

Cr2O72- and AsO43- was studied in terms of adsorption capacity (isotherm) and rate of adsorption.The results showed that the amino-modified cellulose-based cationic adsorbent is effective for the harmful F-

Cr2O72- and AsO43- ions.High adsorption capacity for these species was displayed and rapid adsorption equilibrium could be achieved.The study of the adsorption isotherm has showed that

Langmuir monolayer adsorption isotherm is more favorable for description of the adsorption process within the studied concentration.The capacity was affected by the pH level:high pH gave increased adsorptivity for Cr2O72- and AsO43-

while neutral to low pH decreased the adsorption capacity of F-.This amino-modified cellulose-based cationic adsorbent showed selectivity for Cr2O72- and AsO43-

which were adsorbed under presence of other monovalent anions.This phenomenon is likely due to the chelating action of the cationic groups of polyamine in amino-modified cellulose-based cationic adsorbent.But for F-

the electrostatic force is probably dominant in the adsorption mechanism

which did not show this high selectivity in the presence of competing anions.