Pre-irradiation Grafting of Acrylic Acid and Sodium Styrene Sulfonate on Non-woven Polyethylene Fabric for Heavy Metal Removal

In present study acrylic acid (AAc) and sodium styrene sulfonate (SSS) were grafted onto non-woven polyethylene fabric using pre-irradiation method and the grafted adsorbent is employed for Cr(III) and Pb(II) adsorption. After irradiation of the non-woven polyethylene fabrics with 50 kGy radiation dose the grafting reaction was carried out at 80o C with monomer solution consisted of 30% AAc, 10% SSS and 4% NaCl in water. A high graft yield of 270% was achieved. Fourier Transform Infrared, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Thermo-gravimetric Analysis were used to analyze the adsorbent. Pb (II) and Cr (III) adsorption from synthetic aqueous solution was attempted by the grafted adsorbent. Adsorption study was accomplished by changing the contact time, pH and initial metal ion concentration. Contact time 48 h and initial metal concentration 1000 ppm were found optimum for all the metal ions studied. pH 6.2 and 5 was observed best for Pb (II) and Cr(III) adsorption respectively. Kinetic adsorption data fitted better with pseudo-second-order equation than pseudo-first-order. Good correlation of experimental data with Langmuir isotherm model suggested monolayer adsorption. Langmuir equation showed that the maximum adsorption capacity for Pb (II) was 38.46 mg g-1 and Cr (III) was 111.11 mg g-1. Experiment on desorption of metal ions and reuse of the adsorbent depicted good results. Adsorbent also showed efficient adsorption of Cr(III) from real waste water. From all the findings it can be expected that the AAc-SSS grafted PE fabric can successfully eliminate Cr(III) and Pb(II) from industrial waste water.