Versatile Zwitterionic Beads for Heavy Metal Ion Removal from Aqueous Media and Soils by Sorption and Catalysis Processes

• Published in: ACS applied polymer materials Vol. 5; no. 10; pp. 8183 - 8193
• Main Authors: Zaharia, Marius-Mihai, Bucatariu, Florin, Vasiliu, Ana-Lavinia, Mihai, Marcela
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 13.10.2023
• Subjects: Tarnita polluted area; germination test; fluidized bed columns; copper ion catalyst; zwitterionic resin; heavy metal ions
• ISSN: 2637-6105; 2637-6105
• DOI: 10.1021/acsapm.3c01375

Cross-linked polymeric beads of divinylbenzene/ethyl acrylate/acrylonitrile copolymer, with zwitterionic functional groups obtained by aminolysis with ethylenediamine and carboxymethylation with sodium chloroacetate (IEx-Zw) were herein used in the heavy metal ions (HMIs) dynamic sorption studies, both as a single component-simulated solution (Cu2+) and in multicomponent polluted water (Cu2+, Fe2+, Mn2+, and Zn2+) collected from tailings pond of Tarnita, Suceava, Romania. The experiments were performed in fluidized bed columns filled with IEx-Zw, for the column sorption of Cu2+ from synthetic polluted waters being used to assess the best working conditions of the sorbent. The HMIs sorption experiments were supported by UV–Vis spectroscopy, atomic absorption spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The dual sorbent/catalyst function of the IEx-Zw was followed in the copper sorption experiments, with sorbed Cu2+ being reduced to Cu2O, as found by X-ray diffraction analysis of the obtained precipitate. The multicomponent HMIs sorption kinetic data were described by Thomas and Yoon–Nelson models to gain a deeper understanding of the use of the zwitterionic beads in a continuous flow setup. Furthermore, the germination assays were used to investigate the toxicity of soil collected from the Tarnita sterile dump. Soil cleaning using the IEx-Zw resin was shown to be effective enough to increase the soils’ capacity to support the germination process.