Efficient Removal of Resorcinol from Water Using a New Absorbent Based on Amine-Functionalized [Polyglycidyl Methacrylate-Graft-Polyvinyl Chloride] Copolymer: Isotherms, Kinetics and Thermodynamic Studies

Abstract

Resorcinol has been classified as an organic pollutant that can cause serious health problems and can even lead to death. Resorcinol is present in the wastewater discharged by many industries and thus threatens the normal life of living beings. In the present work a novel material based on polyvinyl chloride (PVC), glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) and hexamethylenediamine (HDA) was prepared and used as an adsorbent for resorcinol removal from water. GMA was grafted onto PVC by an atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) using iodinated PVC (PVC-I) as a macroinitiator. Afterward, the resulting PGMA-g-PVC graft copolymer was functionalized by HDA. The removal of resorcinol using the developed material was carried out by the adsorption process; the obtained results showed that the adsorbent had a maximum adsorption capacity of 943.4 mg/g. In addition, the experimental data revealed that the adsorption process was well-fitted by the pseudo-second-order kinetic model, which indicates the dominance of chemisorption in the adsorption process. Moreover, the developed adsorbent showed good selectivity toward resorcinol in comparison with phenolic products like phenol, hydroquinone and bisphenol A. The synthesized copolymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H NMR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD).