Original scientific paper
Sulphonation of expanded polystyrene waste with commercial sulphuric acid for potential use in removal of heavy metals from contaminated waters
Hayat TABEKH
; Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria
M. Hassan Al KURDI
; Chemistry Department, Faculty of Science, Damascus University, Damascus, Syria
Zaki AJJI
; Polymer Technology Division, Department of Radiation Technology, Damascus, Syria
Abstract
Polystyrene has been sulphonated using commercial sulphuric acid in order to obtain ion exchangers, which could be used to uptake some heavy metals from solutions. Reaction conditions which affect the sulphonation conversion, have been investigated such as: reaction time, reaction temperature and molar ratio of styrene: sulphuric acid. As expected, the reaction time leads to higher conversion. The reaction yield is also increased with increasing the temperature of the oil bath. The molar ratio plays an important role, the sulphonation occurs with a molar ratio (1 : 1, St : H2SO4), and the reaction conversion increases with increasing the molar ratio. The reaction conversion using pure sulphuric acid was insignificantly higher compared with the conversion using commercial sulphuric acid. In addition, polystyrene samples were irradiated with gamma rays prior to sulphonation; a higher sulphonation degree was obtained for the irradiated samples. The ability of sulphonated PS to uptake some toxic metal ions has been evaluated with respect to the sulphonation ratio: Cu2+, Co2+, Ni2+, Cr3+.
Keywords
expanded polystyrene waste; irradiation; removal toxic elements; sulphonation
Hrčak ID:
161318
URI
Publication date:
7.7.2016.
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