The efficacy of nitrosonaphthol functionalized XAD-16 resin for the preconcentration/sorption of Ni(II) and Cu(II) ions

Amberlite XAD-16 resin has been functionalized using nitrosonaphthol as a ligand and characterized employing elemental, thermogravimetric analysis and FT-IR spectroscopy. The sorption of Ni(II) and Cu(II) ions onto this functionalized resin is investigated and optimized with respect to the sorptive medium (pH), shaking speed and equilibration time between liquid and solid phases. The monitoring of the influence of diverse ions on the sorption of metal ions has revealed that phosphate, bicarbonate and citrate reduce the sorption up to 10–14%. The sorption data followed Langmuir, Freundlich, and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) isotherms. The Freundlich parameters computed are 1/n = 0.56 ± 0.03 and 0.49 ± 0.05, A = 9.54 ± 1.5 and 6.0 ± 0.5 mmol g−1 for Ni(II) and Cu(II) ions, respectively. D–R isotherm yields the values of Xm = 0.87 ± 0.07 and 0.35 ± 0.05 mmol g−1 and of E = 9.5 ± 0.23 and 12.3 ± 0.6 kJ mol−1 for Ni(II) and Cu(II) ions, respectively. Langmuir characteristic constants estimated are Q = 0.082 ± 0.005 and 0.063 ± 0.003 mmol g−1, b = (4.7 ± 0.2) × 104 and (7.31 ± 0.11) × 104 l mol−1 for Ni(II) and Cu(II) ions, respectively. The variation of sorption with temperature gives thermodynamic quantities of ΔH = −58.9 ± 0.12 and −40.38 ± 0.11 kJ mol−1, ΔS = −183 ± 10 and −130 ± 8 J mol−1 K−1 and ΔG = −4.4 ± 0.09 and −2.06 ± 0.08 kJ mol−1 at 298 K for Ni(II) and Cu(II) ions, respectively. Using kinetic equations, values of intraparticle transport and of first order rate constant have been computed for both the metal ions. The sorption procedure is utilized to preconcentrate these ions prior to their determination in tea, vegetable oil, hydrogenated oil (ghee) and palm oil by atomic absorption spectrometry using direct and standard addition methods.