Radiation crosslinked poly (vinyl alcohol)/acrylic acid copolymer for removal of heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions

Poly(vinyl alcohol) and acrylic acid (AAc) were copolymerized in different compositions using gamma irradiation. Swelling characteristics of the obtained polymeric hydrogels (PVA/AAc) were evaluated and showed reasonable sensitivity to both pH and temperature. The diffusion of water within the hydrogel was found to be of Fickian character, the water molecules may simply diffuse through the polymer network by diffusion processes. The adsorption of Zn2+, Co2+ and Mn2+ ions onto (PVA/AAc) has been investigated. The parameters studied including; the effects of pH, contact time and the initial metal ion concentrations by batch method. It was found that the adsorption of Zn2+, Co2+ and Mn2+ ions by PVA/AAc hydrogel is pH-dependent and the maximum sorption of Zn2+, Co2+ and Mn2+ was found to be 388, 245 and 152 mg/g, respectively, at pH 5. The adsorption studies are fitted in various adsorption models such as Langmuir and Freundlich. The kinetic data was tested using pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order kinetic models and an intraparticle diffusion model. The correlation results suggested that the pseudo-second-order model was the best choice among all the kinetic models to describe the adsorption behavior.