Removal and Preconcentration of Pb(II) Heavy Metal Ion from Water and Waste-Water Samples onto Poly (vinyl alcohol)/polyethyleneimine/Fe3O4 Microfibers Nanocomposite

In this research, poly (vinyl alcohol)/polyethyleneimine/Fe3O4 (PVA/PEI/Fe3O4) microfibers nanocomposite was synthesized in order to remove and/or preconcentrate Pb(II) ions. The microfibers nanocomposite was characterized by FT-IR, SEM, and XRD methods. The effects of various parameters such as pH, amount of adsorbent, and contact time on the adsorption efficiency of Pb(II) ions at the adsorbent were fully investigated and the optimum conditions were established. The adsorption capacity was found to be 370.9 mg g(- 1) of the adsorbent. The kinetics of metal ions adsorption was evaluated using pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models. The results showed that the adsorption of the investigated metal ion is in agreement with the pseudo first-order kinetics. The adsorption-desorption process was conducted for five cycles and the removal efficiency still kept 97% after three cycles.