Removal of some heavy metals from their aqueous solutions using 2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1-propane sulfonic acid-polyvinyl alcohol copolymer hydrogels prepared by gamma irradiation

Abstract EN

2-acrylamido-2-methyl-1- propane sulfonic acid (AMPS) and Poly vinyl alcohol (PVA) were used to synthesis a series of functional copolymer hydrogels by means of ?-radiations induced copolymerization and crosslinking.

Factors affecting the hydrogel preparation were optimized.

The prepared hydrogels were characterized by studying their swelling characteristics.

The possibility of using the prepared hydrogel in the field of water treatment was evaluated by investigating their ability to recover some heavy me tal ions from their aqueous solutions.

The prepared hydrogel showed a promising capability to chelate metal ions such as: Cu+2, Mn+2 and Ni+2 from their aqueous solutions.

The obtained data show that the chelating ability of the prepared hydrogels increases by increasing the AMPS content in the hydrogel as well as the increment in the pH of the solution and the metal ion concentration.

The prepared hydrogel was able to remove as much as 230 mg of Ni, 160 mg of Mn and 140 mg of Cu per gram of dry gel at the optimum conditions.

The prepared PVA / AMPS copolymer hydrogels are chemically stable enough to be reused for at least 5 times with the same efficiency.