Synthesis and characterization of N-[3-(dimethylamine) propyl] methacrylamide co-polymers for metals retention

FLORENCIA GARCÍA MANZANO; ÁLVAREZ IGARZABAL CECILIA

Colorado

Workshop; ACS Summer School on Green Chemistry and Sustainable Energy; 2012

ACS Summer School

Pollution caused by the presence of metal ions is assuming dangerous proportions as toxic metal ions are present in most of the water discharged from industries, mining effluents and municipal wastes. Adsorption methods have been frequently used for the removal of pollutants from aqueous solutions owing to the convenience in design, application, and regeneration of the adsorbents. Recently, the application of hydrogels with a three-dimensional cross-linked polymer network as adsorbents for the removal of heavy metal ions and ammonium nitrogen has been paid special attention. Hydrogels often contain many hydrophilic functional groups such as -COOH, -COO-, -NH2, and -OH depending on its chemical composition, which has endowed hydrogel adsorbents with very high adsorption capacities. The hydrophilic character of hydrogel adsorbents makes them partly swell once immersed in aqueous solution. Thus, the solute molecules could Interpenetrate into the network of the hydrogel with water quickly and bind to the functional groups. However, neat polymeric hydrogels often have some limitations such as low gel strength and stability. In the present work, we report preparation and characterization of three series of hydrogels. Different concentration of Methyl acrylate (MA), Vinylimidazole and 2-(Dimethylamino)ethyl methacrylate (DMAEM) have been used as comonomer with N-[3(dimethylamino)propyl]methacrylamide (DMAPMA) and N,N-methylenebisacrylamidehas been used like crosslinker. Incorporation of the comonomers is in order to obtain hydrogels with improved mechanical properties while maintaining or improving retention of heavy metals compared to a single component hydrogels based DMAPMA. The select hydrogels were used as supports for the sorption of two common metal ions pollutants of water, Cu2+ and Pd2+ in isolated form and competitive removal form.