Comparative adsorption isotherms and modeling of nickel and cobalt citrate complexes onto chelating resins

The sorption characteristics of nickel and cobalt-organic acid complexes on two commercial chelating resins (Purolite S930 and S950) were compared. Purolite S390 is based on an iminodiacetic funtional group and S950 is an aminophosphonic acid resin. Batch equilibrium adsorption tests of these resins were examined and compared using various metal citrate concentrations (15–2000 mg/L) and solution pH. The solution pH of complex solutions was varied by preparing metal solutions in 0.01, 0.1, 0.5 and 1.0 M of citric acid. Equilibrium adsorption data were fitted to empirical isotherm models; linear, Langmuir, Freundlich and Redlich–Peterson (R–P) equations to establish the mechanism for the uptake of the metal complexes onto the resins. Our study showed that nickel-citrate complex adsorption exhibited both monolayer and multilayer adsorption; the mechanism on both resins varying with acid concentration, whereas cobalt complex adsorption was independent of acid concentration but the mechanism of metal loading was found to be influenced by the nature of the resins.