Sorption of Lead(II) on Two Chelating Resins: From the Exchange Coefficient to the Intrinsic Complexation Constant

Abstract

The sorption of inorganic lead(II) on two cationic resins containing different complexing groups, the iminodiacetic Chelex 100 and the carboxylic Amberlite CG-50, was investigated. The Gibbs-Donnan model was used to describe and predict the sorption through the determination of the intrinsic complexation constants. These quantities, even though non-thermodynamic, characterize the sorption as being independent of experimental conditions. The sorption mechanism for metals on complexing resins was also studied by adding a competitive soluble ligand that shifts the sorption curves to higher pH. The ligand competes with the resin for complexation with the metal ion. Lead(II) is strongly sorbed on Chelex 100 through the formation of two complexes in the resin phase: MHL with log 10β111i=−0.3 and ML with log 10β111i=−3.7. The presence of the competitive ligand in solution allows for the determination of a third complex. Furthermore, on Amberlite CG-50 the sorption is rather strong and involves the formation of the complex ML, in more acidic solution, with log 10β110i=−2.0. In the presence of the ligand PyDA, the ML(OH) complex was characterized by log 10β11−1i=−5.6. In all the experiments the hydrolysis reactions in the aqueous phase are considered quantitatively.