Radiation synthesis and heavy metal ions removal of cellulose microsphere based adsorbent

Abstract

A novel cellulose-based adsorbent was successfully prepared by radiation induced grafting of glycidyl methacrylate onto the surface of cellulose microspheres, followed by epoxy ring-opening reaction to introduce iminodiacetic acid disodium (IDA). The characterization of the obtained adsorbent was investigated in detail. To evaluate the adsorption performance of the novel adsorbent in comparison with commercial adsorbent D850, batch and column mode adsorption experiments against Cu (II) and Ni (II) were conducted. The equilibrium time for Cu (II) and Ni (II) were 20 and 30 min, which is much shorter than that of commercial adsorbent. The adsorption capacity of the adsorbent for Cu (II) and Ni (II) reached 96.90 and 111.11 mg/g, respectively. Applicability of the novel adsorbent on the actual wastewater generated from electroplating plants was also investigated. It was found that the novel adsorbent possessed a higher adsorption/desorption velocity and broadly similar adsorption capacity with the commercial adsorbent, signifying the effective adsorption performance of the developed grafted adsorbent.