Issue 70, 2019

Comparative study of uranium and thorium metal ion adsorption by gum ghatti grafted poly(acrylamide) copolymer composites

Abstract

Uranium and thorium ions were selectively removed from aqueous solution using synthesized gum ghatti grafted poly(acrylamide) gum-g-poly(AAm) composite. A gamma radiation induced free radical copolymerization technique was used to synthesize the copolymer composite of gum-g-poly(AAm). Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TG), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) were used to characterize the graft copolymer gum-g-poly(AAm). The adsorption of uranium ions and thorium ions using the gum-g-poly(AAm) copolymer composites has been investigated in batch mode. The adsorptive characteristics were investigated by varying the pH, concentration and time for both ions. The adsorption method depends on the pH of each metal ion, and the highest adsorption percentage was achieved at pH 6.0. The adsorption statistics were justified by isotherm, kinetic and thermodynamic models. The Langmuir adsorption model was revealed to be the best fitted monolayer arrangement, with a maximum adsorption capacity of 367.65 mg g−1 for the uranium ions and 125.95 mg g−1 for the thorium ions. The adsorption of metal ions occurred by the ion exchange process, which was specified through the rate controlling step with a best-fitted pseudo-second order kinetic rate model. Thermodynamic analysis shows that the ΔH and ΔS values for the uranium ions and thorium ions were positive. The negative ΔG values decreased with an increase in temperature, suggesting that the metal ion adsorption process was endothermic and spontaneous in behaviour.

Graphical abstract: Comparative study of uranium and thorium metal ion adsorption by gum ghatti grafted poly(acrylamide) copolymer composites

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
09 Oct 2019
Accepted
16 Nov 2019
First published
13 Dec 2019
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

RSC Adv., 2019,9, 41326-41335

Comparative study of uranium and thorium metal ion adsorption by gum ghatti grafted poly(acrylamide) copolymer composites

G. Shelar-Lohar and S. Joshi, RSC Adv., 2019, 9, 41326 DOI: 10.1039/C9RA08212C

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licence. You can use material from this article in other publications without requesting further permissions from the RSC, provided that the correct acknowledgement is given.

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