Abstract

The water-insoluble polymers poly(acrylamide-co-styrene sodium sulfonate) (P(AAm-co-ESS)) and poly(2-acrylamide-2-methyl-1-propanesulfonic acid-co-acrylic acid) (P(APSA-co-AAc)) were synthesized by radical polymerization. Parameters including the water sorption capacity, effect of the pH and reaction time, maximum retention capacity of the metal ions, elution, regeneration, and selectivity were studied. The commercial resin Amberlite IRP-64 was used for comparative purposes. Laboratory tests showed that both of the resins had better capacities to remove Pb(II), Cd(II), Zn(II), and Hg(II) from an aqueous solution by the batch method. P(AAm-co-ESS) and P(APSA-co-AAc) resins remove the metal ions faster and had better regeneration than commercial Amberlite IRP-64 resin.