Aqueous heavy metals removal by adsorption on β-diketone functionalized styrene-divinylbenzene copolymeric resin

An investigation was undertaken regarding the adsorption of different heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions using β-diketone-functionalized styrene divinylbenzene resin under different experimental conditions such as initial concentration of metal ions, contact time, pH, and chelating capacity. The functionalization of resin was carried out by the condensation reaction of sodium salt of β-diketones (pentane-1,3-dione) and chloromethylated styrene–divinylbenzene resin in dichloromethane. Functionalized resin beads were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The batch method was employed using different metal ions solution from 5 to 15 mg/L at different contact times. The adsorption kinetics was tested for the pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order reaction at different experimental conditions. The rate constant of adsorption kinetic models were also calculated and good correlation coefficient (R² > 0.9941) was obtained for pseudo-second order kinetic model. The maximum adsorption value obtain for lead (0.725728 mg/g), chromium (0.9199 mg/g), nickel (0.4974 mg/g), cobalt (0.6196 mg/g) and cadmium (0.6519 mg/g) at equilibrium condition, which shows that β-diketone-functionalized styrene divinylbenzene resin is an effective adsorbent for toxic metal ions.