Study of various parameters influencing the fixation of metallic ions Cu2+, Zn2+, and Ni2+ at the catalytic Amberlyst-15 resin in the presence of alcohols

The ionic exchange behavior of Zn²⁺, Ni²⁺, and Cu²⁺ metallic ions on Amberlyst-15 commercial resin was studied as a function of resin solution contact time, initial concentration of metallic ions, nature of the solvent, and the amount of resin. The metallic ions were studied in ternary mixtures using both column and batch experiments. In addition, water, methanol, ethanol, and propan-2-ol were used as solvents for dissolving metallic ions. It was found that the resin behavior depends on the solvent nature and the metallic ion concentration. The analysis of solutions by atomic absorption spectrometry revealed that the affinity of the resin for the studied metallic ions followed the sequence Cu²⁺ > Ni²⁺ > Zn²⁺ in the case of an aqueous medium. Furthermore, uptake increased with increasing amount of resin. A better uptake was observed in the case of the 75:25 % water/methanol compositions when the column technique was used. For the batch technique, we noted a better uptake using 100 % water. The uptake rate decreased with an increase in the number of carbons for the 50 % water–50 % alcohol solvents. The acid–base properties of Amberlyst-15 commercial resin were studied by 2-propanol decomposition test. Propene and acetone are the main expected products and it is believed that they are formed through dehydration or dehydrogenation reaction on acid and base sites, respectively.