Applied Chemical Engineering

Although copper (Cu) is a very beneficial metal, having too much of it in the body can cause lung issues, severe anemia, nausea, and vomiting. In order to extract Cu (II) ions from aqueous solution, an adsorbent was constructed in this study employing pre-irradiation grafted Ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) film. The grafting method was used to binary monomers of sodium styrene sulfonate (SSS) and acrylic acid (AA), where NaCl served as an additive. The grafted polymer was also subjected to studies of tensile strength, water uptake, surface area extension, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), and Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). The adsorption of Cu (II) was investigated with respect to pH, starting metal ion concentrations, contact time, monomer concentrations, and temperature. With 50 kGy of radiation dose, 4% NaCl, and 30% of monomer solution (SSS:AA = 1:2) in water generated the highest graft yield of 470%. The maximum adsorption capacity (412 mg g⁻¹) was discovered with an initial concentration of 2500 mg L⁻¹, a pH of 4.86, and a contact time of 24 h at room temperature (25 ℃). A monolayer adsorption was recommended by the good linking between experimental data and the Langmuir Isotherm Model. The kinetic adsorption data closely fitted with the pseudo-second-order reaction. Due to its increased adsorption capacity and reusability, the synthesized new grafted polymer can be considered an efficient adsorbent for Cu (II) removal from wastewater.

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