Removal of Antimony(III) and Antimony(V) from water samples through water-soluble polymer-enhanced ultrafiltration

Abstract

Addressing antimony (Sb) contamination, which is caused by the use of Sb compounds in various industries, is crucial. This study aims to compare two different Sb removal mechanisms: ion exchange and chelation. Therefore, two different water-soluble polymers—glycidyl methacrylate-N-methyl-D-glucamine and poly 2-(acryloyloxy)ethyl trimethylammonium chloride—were synthesized and used to remove Sb(III) and Sb(V) using the polymer-enhanced ultrafiltration (PEUF) method.The removal of Sb(III) was pH-dependent and extremely difficult at a pH of 1.2. However, when the pH of the solution was increased to 11, the Sb(III) removal rate increased to 77%. The Sb(III) removal rate was 28% at an Sb(III):polymer mole ratio of 1:5, which increased to 77% at a mole ratio of 1:20. Sb(III) removal was discovered to be unaffected by the low concentrations of Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+ ions in the solution, maintaining a Sb(III) removal rate of 77%.The test parameters showed different characteristics for Sb(V) removal. Increasing the pH of the solution from 1 to 9 correspondingly increased the removal rate from 0% to 45%, but increasing it further to 11 decreased the removal rate to 14%. The removal rate of Sb(V) was 67% at a Sb(V):polymer mole ratio of 1:60. Sb(V) removal was discovered to be unaffected by low concentrations of SO42−, NO3−, and PO43− anions in the solution. However, notably, the Sb(V) removal rate decreased from 67% to 58% in the presence of Cl− ions.The results demonstrate that Sb removal via chelation was more effective than by ion exchange, and it remained unaffected by the presence of interfering ions.