Fe (III) adsorption using Fe (III) ionic imprinted polymer from polyeugenoxy acetate crosslinked with ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EGDMA)

Abstract

Ionic Imprinted Polymer (IIP) with polyeugenoxy acetate (PA) as the base polymer, EGDMA as the crosslinking agent, and AIBN as the initiator have been synthesized to adsorb Fe(III) metal ions. NIP (non-imprinted polymer) was used as a comparison for this study. The produced polymer was characterized using FTIR spectroscopy and SEM-EDX. Adsorption rate and capacity were examined through adsorption isotherm and kinetics studies for all adsorbents. The adsorption selectivity test was done with mixed-metal solutions of Zn(II), Cu(II), Cd(II), and Ag(I). The results of SEM analysis on IIP-PA show a more uniform and regular size than NIP-PA. Adsorption of Fe(III) in IIP-PA and NIP-PA follows pseudo-second-order kinetics, and the adsorption isotherm both follow the Langmuir theory. The adsorption capacity of Fe(III) metal ions in IIP-PA is 10.88 mg/g, and the adsorption capacity of NIP-PA is 7.94 mg/g. The mechanism of adsorption of Fe(III) metal ions in IIP-PA and NIP-PA was dominated by hydrogen bonds between the -COOH groups and Fe(III). In binary solutions, IIP-PA adsorption selectivity coefficient is higher than NIP-PA with the order of Fe(III)/Zn (II)>Fe(III)/Cu(II)>Fe(III)/Cd(II)>Fe(III)/Ag(I)