Mercury(II) decontamination using a newly synthesized poly(acrylonitrile-acrylic acid)/ammonium molybdophosphate composite exchanger

Abstract

Mercury is a high priority pollutant because of its fatal effects on the ecosystem. This manuscript demonstrates the preparation of a new organic-inorganic composite exchanger resin for the removal of divalent mercury (Hg(II)) by adsorption from aqueous solution. The preparation was based on binding polymer poly(acrylonitrile-acrylic acid) [P(AN-AA)] with ammonium molybdophosphate (AMP). The prepared adsorbents (P(AN-AA)/AMP and P(AN-AA)) were characterized using FTIR, SEM, BET, and TGA for assigning their physicochemical properties. The conditions controlling the adsorption process were optimized. The removal by P(AN-AA)/AMP and P(AN-AA) reached 96.5 and 77.5%, respectively. The isotherm and kinetics studies showed that the experimental results fit well with the Langmuir isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model with a maximum adsorption capacity of 221.23 and 202.43 mg/g for P(AN-AA)/AMP and P(AN-AA), respectively. The thermodynamic study showed that the adsorption process is endothermic in nature with an enthalpy of 88.38 and 9.33 kJ/mol for P(AN-AA)/AMP and P(AN-AA), respectively. The obtained results suggest that strong chemical adsorption mechanism highly participated in the adsorption process.

Keywords:

• Mercury(II)
• decontamination
• adsorption
• composite

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The present work was financially supported by Deanship of Scientific Research at King Khalid University research groups program under grant number [R.G.P. 1/206/41].