Sorption investigation on the removal of metal ions from aqueous solutions using chelating terpolymer resin

A novel chelating terpolymer resin has been synthesized from anthranilic acid, phenylhydrazine, and formaldehyde by condensation in glacial acetic acid. The structure of the chelating resin was clearly elucidated by use of a variety of spectral techniques, for example FTIR, and ¹H and ¹³C NMR spectroscopy. The average molecular weight of the terpolymer resin was determined by gel-permeation chromatography. The empirical formula and empirical weight of the resin were determined by elemental analysis. The physicochemical properties of the terpolymer resin were determined. Scanning electron microscopy was used to establish the surface features of the chelating resin. The ion-exchange behaviour of the resin for specific metal ions, viz. Fe³⁺, Co²⁺, Ni²⁺, Cu²⁺, Zn²⁺, and Pb²⁺, was evaluated by a batch equilibrium method. The study was extended to three variations: evaluation of metal ion uptake in the presence of different electrolytes at different concentrations; evaluation of metal ion uptake at different pH; and evaluation of metal ion uptake at different times. Further, the reusability of the resin was also determined to assess the efficiency of the resin after a few cycles of sorption. From the results it was observed that the resin acts as an effective chelating ion-exchanger.