Removal of Cu(II) from Water Samples Using Glycidyl Methacrylate-Based Polymer Functionalized with Diethylenetriamine Tetraacetic Acid: Investigation of Adsorption Characteristics

Abstract

A macroporous glycidyl methacrylate (GMA)–methylmethacrylate (MMA)–divinyl benzene (DVB) terpolymer functionalized with diethylenetriamine tetraacetic acid (DTTA) (GMA-MMA-DVB-DTTA) sorbent was successfully applied for the uptake of Cu(II) from the aqueous solutions. Adsorption characteristics for copper ion were investigated by a batch sorption in under different experimental conditions, and the optimum parameters for the quantitative sorption of Cu(II) ion were found to be as follows: pH of 7.0, a contact time of 30.0 min, and a sorbent amount/solution volume ratio of 1.5 mg/mL. The quantitative elution from the sorbent was performed with 1.0 M HCl (>95 %). Among three kinetic models, the pseudo-second-order kinetic model provides the best correlation for the process. The nonlinear resolution of the Langmuir isotherm equation has been found to show the closest fit to the equilibrium data. The results indicates that the presence of the competitor ions (Al, Ba, Co, Mn, Mg, and Ni) has no obvious influence on the sorption of Cu(II) ion under the optimum conditions and the polymeric sorbent has a good selectivity for the sorption of Cu(II) ions with a sorption percent of ≥99 %. Sorption/desorption studies were performed for ultrapure, tap, bottled drinking and industrial wastewater samples, and it is examined that the proposed method has been successfully applied to the real samples for the removal of Cu(II) acceptable accuracy and precision. The results of this work indicated that the polymeric sorbent could be a simple and suitable method for the effective removal of Cu(II) ions from waters.