Cu(II) removal enhancement from aqueous solutions using ion-imprinted membrane technique

In this study, Cu(II)-ion-imprinted membrane adsorbents were prepared via cross-linking of blended chitosan/poly(vinyl alcohol) using glutaraldehyde as cross-linker and copper ions as template. The ability of IIMs to adsorb copper ions from aqueous solutions was assessed using a batch of experiments under different conditions by changing cross-linking density (0.05 mass %, 0.1 mass %, and 0.2 mass %), template content (0.2 mass %, 0.5 mass %, and 0.9 mass %), initial analyte concentration (50 mg L^?1, 100 mg L^?1, and 150 mg L^?1), and adsorbent concentration (0.5 g L^?1, 1.0 g L^?1, and 2.0 g L^?1). The Taguchi method was used to plan a minimum number of experiments. The following optimal levels were thus determined for the four factors: cross-linking density: 0.1 mass %; template content: 0.5 mass %; initial analyte concentration: 150 mg L^?1; and adsorbent concentration: 0.3 g L^?1.