Abstract

The synthesis of a water-insoluble adsorbent resin was carried out by radical polymerization of [2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl] trimethyl ammonium chloride by using ammonium peroxydisulfate as initiator and N,N?-methylene-bis-acrylamide (MBA) as crosslinking reagent. The adsorbent was characterized by elemental analyses, and FT-IR spectroscopy. The thermal stability was studied in the presence of Hg(II). The ability to bind Hg(II), Cd(II), Zn(II), Pb(II), Cu(II), Cr(III), and U(VI) as well as the maximum adsorption capacity, and elution of the Hg(II) from the loaded resin was studied. At pH 2 the adsorbent retained 95% of Hg(II) from an aqueous solution containing 1g/L in Hg(II). The retention of other metal ions was lower than 15%. Sorption selectivity from the binary mixtures Hg(II)-Cd(II), Hg(II)-Zn(II), Hg(II)-Pb(II), and Hg(II)-Cr(III) was studied at the optimum sorption pH value.