Enhanced and selective adsorption of mercury ions on chitosan beads grafted with polyacrylamide via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization

Enhanced and selective removal of mercury ions was achieved with chitosan beads grafted with polyacrylamide (chitosan-g-polyacrylamide) via surface-initiated atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The chitosan-g-polyacrylamide beads were found to have significantly greater adsorption capacities and faster adsorption kinetics for mercury ions than the chitosan beads. At pH 4 and with initial mercury concentrations of 10-200 mg/L, the chitosan-g-polyacrylamide beads can achieve a maximum adsorption capacity of up to 322.6 mg/g (in comparison with 181.8 mg/g for the chitosan beads) and displayed a short adsorption equilibrium time of less than 60 min (compared to more than 15 h for the chitosan beads). Coadsorption experiments with both mercury and lead ions showed that the chitosan-g-polyacrylamide beads had excellent selectivity in the adsorption of mercury ions over lead ions at pH < 6, in contrast to the chitosan beads, which did not show clear selectivity for either of the two metal species. Mechanism study suggested that the enhanced mercury adsorption was due to the many amide groups grafted onto the surfaces of the beads, and the selectivity in mercury adsorption can be attributed to the ability of mercury ions to form covalent bonds with the amide. It was found that adsorbed mercury ions on the chitosan-g-polyacrylamide beads can be effectively desorbed in a perchloric acid solution, and the regenerated beads can be reused almost without any loss of adsorption capacity.