Poly(N-acryloyl-l-histidine)-modified wood sawdust as an efficient adsorbent for low-level heavy metal ions

• Published in: Cellulose (London) Vol. 27; no. 14; pp. 8155 - 8167
• Main Authors: Guo, Jianwei, Liu, Xiao, Han, Miaomiao, Liu, Yadong, Ji, Shengxiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.09.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Addition polymerization; Adsorbents; Adsorption; Bioorganic Chemistry; cellulose; Ceramics; Chain transfer; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; China; Chromium; Composites; Copper; Drinking water; Glass; Gold; Heavy metals; Histidine; Iron; Lead; Magnesium; Mercury (metal); Mercury compounds; Metal ions; Natural Materials; Nickel; Organic Chemistry; Original Research; Palladium; Physical Chemistry; Polymer Sciences; polymerization; Quality standards; Sawdust; Sustainable Development; wood; Zinc; China; Wood sawdust; Heavy metal ions; Histidine; Adsorption
• ISSN: 0969-0239; 1572-882X
• DOI: 10.1007/s10570-020-03347-8

An amphoteric metal adsorbent, poly( N -acryloyl- l -histidine)-modified sawdust (SD- g -P(A-His)), is prepared by reversible addition–fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization of N -acryloyl- l -histidine from modified sawdust. SD- g -P(A-His) possess imidazolyl and carboxyl groups and shows outstanding adsorption performance for heavy metals. The adsorption capacities of SD- g -P(A-His) are 241.8 and 95.7 mg/g for Pb(II) and Cu(II), respectively. Ten tested metal ions, e.g. Au(III), Cr(III), Cu(II), Fe(III), Ni(II), Pb(II), Pd(II), Hg(II), Mg(II) and Zn(II), can be effectively removed from the multi-metal solution at pH > 2.7, while Au(III) and Pd(II) can be selectively recycled from the multi-metal solution by lowering the pH to ≤ 1.0. The adsorption kinetics of Pb(II) and Cu(II) onto SD- g -P(A-His) fit well with the pseudo-second order model. SD- g -P(A-His) can treat the water with low concentration of metal ions down to sub-10 μg/L level to meet the Quality Standards for Drinking Water of China. Moreover, SD- g -P(A-His) can be recycled and maintain high adsorption efficiency (91.5%) even after 5 cycles. Graphic abstract