Batch separation studies for the removal of heavy metal ions using a chelating terpolymer: Synthesis, characterization and isotherm models

• Terpolymer containing amino and acidic group is responsible for the removal of heavy metal ions from the solutions.
• The more amorphous nature of the terpolymer enhances the removal of heavy metal ions.
• The terpolymer resin can be reused for few cycles for the separation.

Chelating terpolymer resin was synthesized from anthranilic acid and 2-amino pyridine with formaldehyde to remove the heavy metal ions present in the solutions. The synthesized terpolymer resin was characterized by spectral techniques such as FTIR, NMR (1H and 13C) and elemental analysis to elucidate the structure of the resin. The physico-chemical parameters have also been evaluated for the terpolymer resin. The surface morphology of the terpolymer resin without the metal ion uptake and with the incorporation of the metal ion was examined by scanning electron microscopy. The chelation ion-exchange property of the terpolymer resin was evaluated by batch equilibrium method for specific metal ions viz. Fe3+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cu2+, Zn2+, and Pb2+. The study was extended to three variations such as evaluation of metal ion uptake in presence of various electrolytes in different concentrations, evaluation of the distribution of metal ion uptake at different pH ranges and evaluation of the rate of metal ion uptake at different time intervals. The adsorption isotherm was evaluated by means of Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models. The order of the kinetics was also determined and the resin follows first order kinetics which shows that physisorption may be involved in the ion-exchange process. From the results, it was observed that the terpolymer resin acts as an excellent cation-exchanger. Compared to the commercially available phenolic and polystyrene resins, the synthesized terpolymer resin showed an excellent ion-exchange capacity with the selected metal ions.

SEM images of AAPF terpolymer resin and metal incorporated resinFigure optionsDownload as PowerPoint slide