Selective Recovery of Phosphate from River Water Using Molecularly Imprinted Polymers

Abstract

Phosphate‐selective molecularly imprinted polymers were prepared using N‐allyl‐N′‐methyl‐thiourea or 1‐allyl‐2‐thiourea as functional monomers, and the binding ability and selectivity of the polymers were evaluated. River water collected from agricultural use was the test sample. Though the water included some impurities, 65% of the phosphate was recovered from the imprinted polymer prepared using N‐allyl‐N′‐methyl‐thiourea as the functional monomer, while on the other hand, the binding of other anions was scarcely low. The imprinted polymer showed selective binding to phosphate and indicated the phosphate recovery material from river water.

Keywords:

• Molecular imprinting
• phosphate
• thiourea group
• recovery
• molecular recognition

This work was partially supported by a Grant‐in‐Aid for Scientific Research from Innovation Plaza Hiroshima, Japan Science and Technology Agency, and a Grant‐in‐Aid for International Exchange from Electric Technology Research Foundation of Chugoku. The authors also thank Mr. Rokuro Ishikawa at the Hiroshima municipal Senda Sewage Treatment Plant for his generous help and advice.