Itaconic copolymer modified loess for high-efficiently removing copper ions from wastewater.

Using Loess of clay (LC) which is low-cost, highly hydrophilic and small granule materials, biocompatible itaconic acid (IA), 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate (HEMA) and N-vinyl-2-pyrrolidone (NVP) as functional monomers, a novel biocompatible polymer composite adsorbent (LC/PIHN) was prepared by in-situ copolymerization. It was applied to remove copper ions from wastewater, and the mechanism of adsorption was investigated. It showed that the Cu(II) removal was more than 99.8% at room temperature. The adsorption kinetics and isotherms of LC/PIHN fit the pseudo-second-order model and the Freundlich model, respectively. In summary, LC/PIHN is a kind of biocompatible, low-cost and excellent polymer composite adsorbent for removing heavy metal ions from wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]