Poly (furfural-acetone) as New Adsorbent for Removal of Cu(II) from Aqueous Solution: Equilibrium Study

The batch removal of Cu(II) from aqueous solution using poly (furfural-acetone), (PFA) as adsorbent was investigated in this study. The influences of initial Cu(II) ion concentration (10 to 120 ppm), pH (4-8) and contact time have been reported. Adsorption of Cu(II) is highly pH-dependent and the result indicate that the optimum pH for the removal was found to be 6. At this pH a small amount of PFA, 2 g/L, could remove as much as 97% of Cu(II) from a solution of initial concentration 10 ppm. It was observed that an increase in initial concentration of Cu(II) leads to decrease in percent removal of Cu(II) and increase in amount of Cu(II) adsorbed per unit mass of PFA. The adsorption process of Cu(II) is tested with four isotherm models, Langmuir, Freundlich, Temkin and Dubinin–Radushkevich (D-R). It was found that all models were applicable and the maximum adsorption capacity was found to be 13.66 mg/g. From the isotherm constants it was confirmed that, the sorption process was physisorption