Development of Novel Absorbents and Membranes by Radiation-Induced Grafting for Selective Purposes

The direct radiation grafting technique was used to graft glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) monomer containing epoxy ring, onto polypropylene fibres. The ring opening of the epoxy ring in GMA by different amino groups was studied to introduce various chelating agents. Some properties of grafted fibres were studied and the possibility of its practical use for water treatment from iron and manganese metals was investigated. The radiation initiated grafting of acrylic acid (AAc) or acrylamide (AAm) monomers onto poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA), a 2-acrylamide-2-methyl propane sulfonic acid (AMPS) polymer was studied. Cationic/anionic membranes were also prepared by radiation-induced grafting of styrene/methacrylic acid (Sty/MAA) binary monomers onto LDPE films. To impart reactive cationic/anionic characters in the grafted membranes, sulfonation and alkaline treatments for styrene and carboxylic acid groups, respectively, were carried out. The possibility of their applications in the selective removal of some heavy metals was studied. The prepared grafted materials had a great ability to recover the metal ions such as: Ni2+, Co2+, Cu2+, Cd2+, Mg2+, Zn2+, Mn2+ and Cr3+ from their solutions. It was found that AMPS content in the grafted copolymers is the main parameter for the selectivity of the copolymer towards metal ions. The higher the AMPS content the higher the selectivity towards Co and Ni ions. In case of LDPE-g-P(STY/MAA), the sulfonation and alkaline treatments are the most effective methods to influence metal absorption and swelling behaviour of the prepared membranes. Graft composition, dose and pH have also a great influence on the membrane characteristics and applicability in wastewater treatments from heavy and toxic metals. Results revealed that the prepared grafted materials with different functionalized groups are promising as ion selective membranes and could be used for wastewater treatment. (author)