1. N-methyl-D-glucamine based cryogels as reusable sponges to enhance heavy metals removal from water
- Author
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Sabrina Carroccio, Martina Ussia, Vittorio Privitera, Tommaso Mecca, Stefano Scurti, Francesca Cunsolo, Sandro Dattilo, Daniele Caretti, Mecca T., Ussia M., Caretti D., Cunsolo F., Dattilo S., Scurti S., Privitera V., and Carroccio S.C.
- Subjects
General Chemical Engineering ,Metal ions in aqueous solution ,chemistry.chemical_element ,02 engineering and technology ,010402 general chemistry ,01 natural sciences ,Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering ,symbols.namesake ,Chromium ,Adsorption ,Desorption ,Environmental Chemistry ,Arsenic ,Isotherm ,Chemistry ,N-methyl-D-glucamine ,Langmuir adsorption model ,Sorption ,General Chemistry ,021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology ,Purified water ,0104 chemical sciences ,Hydrogel ,Heavy metal ,symbols ,0210 nano-technology ,Nuclear chemistry - Abstract
The design of novel cryogels containing N‐methyl‐D‐glucamine (NMG) group was herein reported. The macroporous materials were prepared via sustainable and feasible cryopolymerization by using as co-monomers (4‐vinyl-benzyl)‐N‐methyl‐D‐glucamine (VbNMG) and 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) at different percentages. Particularly, cryogel containing 100% of VbNMG (VbNMG-100) showed excellent ability in fast water uptake, removing arsenic (V) and chromium (VI) metal ions from it. Reusability up to six cycles was also demonstrated. The as-prepared materials were characterized by spectroscopic, thermal, and morphological analyses. The effect of initial oxyanions concentration, kinetic profiles, interfering anions (phosphate and sulphate) were investigated and adsorption/desorption studies were carried out. Equilibrium sorption results well fitted the Langmuir isotherm for both ions tested, showing a startling aptitude in arsenic (76.3 mg/g) as well as chromium (130.9 mg/g) sorption properties if compared with similar polymers as well as other materials. Exploiting its spongy nature, only 5 mins were needed to absorb contaminated medium releasing purified water by a simple squeezing. Most importantly, the sponge can be easily regenerated and reused again up to three times without the depletion of its efficiency.
- Published
- 2020
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