An efficient porous spherical polyethyleneimine-cellulose (PEI-cell) absorbent was synthesized and characterized. The main influencing factors and adsorption mechanism for two typical metal ions

Cr

3+

and Fe

3+

were investigated. The adsorption performance primarily depends on the initial concentration of metal ions

pH value and temperature

and the chelation action between N atoms of PEI-cell and metal ions plays an important role. Under dynamic adsorption conditions

the saturation adsorption of polyethyleneimine-cellulose is 83.98 mg·g

-1

for Cr(Ⅲ) and 377.19 mg·g

-1

for Fe(Ⅲ)

higher than reported data and that of unmodified cellulose. The adsorption can be well described with second-order kinetic equation and Freundlich adsorption model

and Δ

H

Δ

G

and Δ

S

of the adsorption are all negative. With 5% HCl as eluent

the elution ratio of Cr(Ⅲ) and Fe(Ⅲ) achieved 99.88% and 97.74% at 313 K

respectively. After the porous PEI-cell was reused 6 times

it still presented satisfactory adsorption performance. Above results show the advantages such as easily-acquired raw material

high efficiency

stable recycling performance and biodegradability.