Preparation and characterization of an IPN type chelating resin containing amino and carboxyl groups for removal of Cu(II) from aqueous solutions

A novel IPN type chelating resin, amino-functionalized poly (glycidyl methacrylate)/poly (acrylic acid), (pGMA/pAA), was synthesized by a combination of serial reactions including, conventional radical polymerization, amination and photopolymerization. To assess the efficacy and characteristics of the resin in removal of Cu (II), batch adsorption experiments were carried out, and the effects of different parameters such as contact time, adsorbent dosage, initial metal ion concentration, temperature, and pH on the adsorption process were investigated. The results showed that 0.5 g/L dosage and pH 5 are the optimum values to achieve the maximum adsorption capacity and the adsorption kinetic of Cu (II) was well represented by pseudo-second-order kinetic model. In addition, it was found that the adsorption was mainly controlled by the film diffusion mechanism, along with a considerable contribution of the intra-particle diffusion mechanism, and Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) isotherm models can be used for interpreting the adsorption process. Moreover, FT-IR analysis results and the mean free energies of adsorption clearly indicate that the ion exchange and chelation mechanisms took place as dominating mechanisms simultaneously during the adsorption process. It was also found to be that IPN resin could be used at least four times without losing its original activity.