Abstract: | An organic polymeric resin was synthesized by anchoring p ‐aminobenzoic acid onto macroporous chloromethylated polystyrene beads, and was used for Zn(II) removal from aqueous solutions. The resin exhibited an initially rapid adsorption property for Zn(II) with equilibrium time of 10 h and the maximum adsorption capability approached 184.5 mg g−1. Optimum pH was 4.5. The mechanism of adsorption was investigated using kinetic, isotherm and thermodynamic models. The adsorption kinetic data were described well by a pseudo second‐order model with R 2 of 0.997. There was a negative ΔG (−17.98 kJ mol−1) and positive ΔH (13.58 kJ mol−1). HCl solution (1.0 mol l−1) could achieve an elution rate of 100%. The experimental data were well fitted by the Thomas model with R 2 of 0.9826. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |