Removal of As(V), Cr(III) and Cr(VI) from aqueous environments by poly(acrylonitril-co-acrylamidopropyl-trimethyl ammonium chloride)-based hydrogels

Cationic poly(Acrylonitril-co-Acrylamidopropyl-trimethyl Ammonium Chloride) (p(AN-co-APTMACl)) hydrogels in bulk were synthesized by using acrylonitrile (AN) and 3-acrylamidopropyl-trimethyl ammonium chloride (APTMACl) as monomers. The prepared hydrogels were exposed to amidoximation reaction to replace hydrophobic nitrile groups with hydrophilic amidoxime groups that have metal ion binding ability. Those replacements were increased the hydrogels absorption capacity for As(V) and Cr(VI). Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms equations were utilized to obtain the best-fitted isotherm model for the absorption of the ions at different metal ion concentrations. The absorption data of As(V) ion were fitted well to Freundlich isotherm while those of Cr(VI) and Cr(III) ions were fitted well to Langmuir isotherm. The maximum absorption of poly(3-acrylamidopropyl-trimethyl ammonium chloride (p(APTMACl)) and amid-p(AN-co-APTMACl) macro gels were 22.39 mg and 21.83 mg for As(V), and 30.65 mg and 18.16 mg for Cr(VI) ion per unit gram dried gel, respectively. Kinetically, the absorption behaviors of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) ions were fitted well to a pseudo 2nd-order kinetic model and those of As(V) ions were fitted well to a pseudo 1st order kinetic model.