Metal Sorption Studies of a Novel Terpolymer Resin

Novel terpolymer resin involving phthalic acid and urea with formaldehyde (PUF) was synthesized by condensation polymerization in glacial acetic acid medium and proved to be a selective chelation ion-exchange terpolymer for certain metals. The resin was characterized by FTIR and 1H NMR spectroscopy. Based on the spectral data, the structure of the resin was proposed. The average molecular weight of the terpolymer resin was determined by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The morphology of the terpolymer was established by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). In addition, the physicochemical parameters were also determined for the terpolymer resin. A batch equilibrium method was employed to study the selectivity and sorption capacity of the resin towards certain divalent metal ions such as Pb2+, Zn2+, Cu2+, Ni2+, Ba2+, Co2+ and Mn2+ in various electrolyte concentrations, wide pH ranges and different time intervals. Hence the resin can be used to recover certain metal ions from waste solutions and used for the purpose of purification of waste water and removal of iron from boiler water. The ion-exchange capacity of the metal ions has also been compared with other commercial resins