Synthesis of magnetic chelating resins functionalized with tetraethylenepentamine for adsorption of molybdate anions from aqueous solutions

Magnetic resins were synthesized through polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) in the presence of divinylbenzene (DVB) or N,N′-methylenebisacrylamide (MBA) as hydrophobic or hydrophilic crosslinker, respectively and in presence of suspended magnetite particles. The resins containing (DVB or MBA) as crosslinker were immobilized with tetraethylenepentamine (TEP) to give the amino resins, GMA/DVB/TEP (R1-en) and GMA/MBA/TEP (R2-en), respectively. The uptake behavior of the two resins was studied towards molybdate anions and uptake capacities of 4.24 and 6.18 mmol/g [as (Mo(VI)] were obtained using (R1-en) and (R2-en). Kinetic studies showed that the adsorption followed the pseudo-second-order model pointing the influence of the textural properties of the resin on the rate of adsorption. Thermodynamic data indicated an endothermic adsorption process. The uptake of Mo(VI) and regeneration of the resins were also studied using the column method. Regeneration efficiency up to 90-96% was reached using ammonia buffer.