Using Modified Resins in Chromium Ion Removal from Aqueous Solutions

Heavy metals are one of environmental concerns in industrial wastewater effluents, and adsorption is one of the widely used processes in removing heavy metals from aqueous solutions. Concerning the importance of aforementioned topic, the main goal of the current study was to evaluate the efficiency of modified poly (styrene-co-maleic anhydride) [MP-SCMA]-based resins in the removal of chromium metal ions from aqueous solutions. To perform the present study, adsorption experiments were performed by mixing 10 mg of MP-SCMA resin with 10 ml of chromium solution in 100 ml Erlenmeyer flasks. In this study, parameters of pH (2-7), temperature (5-45 ᵒC), contact time (30-180 min), adsorbent dose (5-20 g/l) and initial chromium concentration (5-40 mg/L) was evaluated on the amount of chromium removal. Atomic absorption device made in Germany (model: Analytik Jena: NovAA 400 P) was used to determine the amount of chromium metal ions in wavelength of 357.9 nm. The findings of the present study showed that except for the variable "initial chromium concentration", other factors have a direct relationship with the removal percentage of chromium ions by MP-SCMA-based resins. In addition, the adsorption process of chromium metal ion by MP-SCMA was more consistent with the Langmuir isotherm model (R2=0.992) than the Freundlich isotherm model (R2=0.966). Based on the obtained results, it can be concluded that resin-based MP-SCMA adsorbent can be used as a high-efficiency adsorbent to remove metals from industrial wastewater.