Synthesis of a new thiophenol-thiophene polymer for the removal of mercury from wastewater and liquid hydrocarbons

This work reports the synthesis of a novel thiophenol-thiophene polymer (termed KFUPM-Hg) and its suitability as an adsorbent for mercury removal from wastewater and liquid hydrocarbons. KFUPM-Hg was synthesized through a Friedel-Crafts polycondensation reaction of thiophenol and thiophene in the presence of p-formaldehyde as a linker. The crosslinked polymer structure was characterized using solid-state C-13-nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Thermogravimetric analysis was performed to assess the polymer thermal stability, which indicated that the polymer is thermally stable to over 300 degrees C. A series of batch adsorption studies were used to investigate the effects of different parameters (pH, temperature, concentration, and time) on the mercury removal from aqueous solution as well as from a model liquid hydrocarbon media (decane/toluene mixture). The batch adsorption studies in aqueous media showed near quantitative removal of inorganic mercury (II) at 100 ppm using the thiophenol-thiophene polymer adsorbent. Furthermore, the thiophenol-thiophene polymer demonstrated excellent removal capabilities of methylmercury in a decane/toluene hydrocarbon mixture. Mercury adsorption onto KFUPM-Hg is an exothermic reversible physical process and follows pseudo-second order adsorption kinetics. Remarkably, these removal capabilities were achieved using polymers that directly incorporated thiophenol and thiophene groups during synthesis without the use of thiol-ene post-synthesis modifications. (C) 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

KFUPM-Hg, a novel thiophenol-thiophene polymer, was successfully synthesized and demonstrated excellent thermal stability and mercury adsorption capabilities in both aqueous and liquid hydrocarbon media. The polymer showed near quantitative removal of inorganic mercury (II) and methylmercury, following a pseudo-second order adsorption kinetics. These results were achieved without the need for post-synthesis modifications.