Displacement mechanism of binary competitive adsorption for aqueous divalent metal ions onto a novel IDA-chelating resin: Isotherm and kinetic modeling

Adsorptive properties for Cu (II), Pb (II) and Cd (II) onto an iminodiacetic acid (IDA) chelating resin were systematically investigated at the optimal pH-value in both single and binary solutions using batch experiments. The Langmuir isotherm model and the pseudo second-order rate equation could explain respectively the isotherm and kinetic experimental data for sole-component system with much satisfaction. The maximum adsorption capacity in single system for Cu (II), Pb (II) and Cd (II) was calculated to be 2.27 mmol/g, 1.27 mmol/g and 0.65 mmol/g individually. The initial adsorption rate followed the order as Cu (II) > Pb (II) > Cd (II) at the fixed initial concentration, and for each metal the initial sorption rate increased as the initial concentration increased. In addition, the modified Langmuir model could describe the binary competitive adsorption behavior successfully, with which the interaction coefficient was obtained to follow the order as Cu (II) < Pb (II) < Cd (II). Furthermore, in every case of the investigated three binary systems, the reduction in both the uptake amounts and distribution coefficients testified the antagonistic competitive phenomena. Obviously, this novel IDA-chelating resin possessed of a good selectivity toward Cu (II) over Pb (II) and Cd (II) for the obtained highest separation factor values were up to 21.30 and 133.91 in the range of tested. This interaction mechanism between the favorable component and other metal ions could mainly contribute to the direct displacement impact which be herewith illustrated schematically.

Research highlights► The present work determined the competitive adsorption propertiesthrough isotherm and kinetic modeling for aqueous divalent metal ions involving Cu (II), Pb (II) and Cd (II) onto a novel IDA-chelating resin. ► The distribution coefficient, the decreasing ratio and the separation factor were used to describe the interaction of the metal species investigated. ► The distribution coefficient, the decreasing ratio and the separation factor were used to present the interaction of the metal species investigated. Three multicomponent isotherm models derived from Langmuir isotherm of single system described the adsorption behavior of binary solute. ► Furthermore, the three-dimensional isotherm surfaces generated from the multi-component isotherm model and displacement mechanisms are schematically illuminated.