Adsorption performance of suitable nanostructured novel composite adsorbent of poly(N-methylaniline) for removal of heavy metal from aqueous solutions

•FTIR and XRD confirm that PNMA/PVOH was formed successfully.•The particles size of PNMA/PVOH was less than 100 nm.•EDS spectrum confirmed sorption of Cr(VI) by composite.•Adsorption process was controlled by pseudo-second-order model.•Equilibrium data were fitted to the Langmuir and Freundlich isotherms models.

Poly(N-methylaniline) (PNMA) composite composed of N-methylaniline and poly(ethanol) was prepared by in situ polymerization technique and characterized using FTIR, SEM-EDS and XRD instruments. Characterization of product revealed that this composite is crystalline in nature and the particles size is less than100 nm. The potential of this composite in removal of Cr(VI) ions from synthetic aqueous effluents was investigated by batch sorption system. The experimental results confirmed that this adsorbent has the potential application for removal of Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solution with the sorption capacity of 125 mg/g of Cr(VI)/0.1 g of adsorbent.