Polyacrylamide thorium (IV) phosphate as an important lead selective fibrous ion exchanger: Synthesis, characterization and removal study

The objective of the present research was to synthesize, characterize and to investigate the removal efficiency of lead (II) ion from synthetic lead solution by a hybrid fibrous ion exchanger. In the present study polyacrylamide thorium (IV) phosphate was synthesized by co-precipitation method and was characterized using SEM, XRD, FTIR and TGA-DSC. To know the practical applicability, a detailed removal study of lead ion was carried out. The removal of lead was 52.9% under neutral condition, and using 0.4 g of adsorbent in 100 mL of lead solution having initial concentration of 100 mg/L. Adsorption kinetic study revealed that the adsorption process followed first order kinetics. Adsorption data were fitted to linearly transformed Langmuir isotherm with R-2 (correlation coefficient)> 0.99. Thermodynamic parameters were also calculated to study the effect of temperature on the removal process. In order to understand the adsorption type, equilibrium data were tested with Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm. The percentage removal was found to increase gradually with increase in pH and 99% removal was achieved at pH 10. The process was rapid and equilibrium was established within first 30 min. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.