Development of composite ion-exchange adsorbent for pollutants removal from environmental wastes

A composite cation exchange material “n-butylacetatezirconium(IV) iodate” was prepared under different experimental conditions. Ion-exchange material synthesized at pH 0.8 shows an ion-exchange capacity of 1.8 meq g−1 for Na+ ions. The material has been characterized on the basis of X-ray, TGA, FTIR, SEM, AFM and Raman studies. Ion-exchange capacity, pH titration, elution behavior and distribution studies were also carried out to determine the preliminary ion-exchange properties of the material. The effect of temperature on the ion-exchange capacity of the material has also been studied. The sorption behavior towards metal ions was studied in ethyl acetate, DMF, DMSO and H3PO4 systems. A few quantitative binary separations of metal ions on the column, packed with this material has been achieved to establish its usefulness as ion-exchanger. The practical utility of n-butylacetatezirconium(IV) iodate cation exchanger has been established to recover toxic metals from environmental wastes.