Synthesis and characterization of gum ghatti grafted chelating copolymer for an effective removal of uranyl ions

Abstract

In this report, we intended to synthesize chelating grafted copolymer of gum ghatti with acrylonitrile (Gg-g-An) by gamma irradiation as proficient and influential adsorbent for removal of uranyl ions. These grafted and modified copolymers were characterized using different techniques viz. FTIR, Elemental analysis, TGA and FESEM. Maximum grafting was accomplished with 5% gum ghatti solution and 1:3 ratio of acrylonitrile to backbone at 25 kGy total radiation dose. Surface area of grafted copolymer was calculated by BET analysis. Adsorption experiments reveal the adsorption capacity was effectively influenced at pH 6 with maximum adsorption 94% which substantiated Gg-g-AO surface engross excellent potential as chelating agent for adsorption of uranyl ions. Uptake of uranyl ions by Gg-g-AO was confirmed using spectroscopic and EDX analysis. The result showed that the pseudo second order reaction and Langmuir adsorption isotherms had remarkable conformity through linear fit statistics with r2 0.998 and 0.978 respectively. Furthermore, the thermodynamic parameters illustrated that the uranyl ions adsorption process by Gg-g-AO was endothermic and spontaneous. Desorption studies of Gg-g-AO confirmed the reusability up to three cycles in 0.1 M HCl. This study substantiated that the synthesized Gg-g-AO has impending use in environmental remediation.