Gamma radiation-induced preparation of chitosan-acrylic acid-1-vinyl-2-vinylpyrrolidone/multiwalled carbon nanotubes composite for removal of 152+154Eu, 60Co and 134Cs radionuclides.

Removal behaviors of 152+154Eu, 60Co, and 134Cs radionuclides onto Chitosan-acrylic acid-1-vinyl-2-vinylpyrrolidone/oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CTS-AA-VP/o-MWCNTs) composite has been investigated by batch adsorption technique. CTS-AA-VP/o-MWCNTs composite has been synthesized by copolymerization of acrylic acid (AA) and 1-vinyl-2-vinylpyrrolidone (VP) onto the surface of chitosan/oxidized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (CTS/o-MWCNTs) using gamma radiation. SEM, TGA, and FTIR were applied to characterize the morphology, thermal stability, and structure of the composite. The composite shows high removal capacity of 321.77, 369.91, and 456.46 mg/g towards 152+154Eu, 60Co, and 134Cs radionuclides, respectively.

Gamma radiation induced preparation of polyampholyte nanocomposite polymers for removal of Co(II).

A series of polyampholyte nanocomposite biopolymers, poly(N,N-diallyldimethylammonium chloride-co-acrylamide) grafted on carboxymethylcellulose/iron(III) oxide [P(DADMAC-AAm)CMC/Fe2O3] and poly(N,N-diallyldimethylammonium chloride-co-sodium acrylate) grafted on carboxymethylcellulose/iron(III) oxide [P(DADMAC-SA)CMC/Fe2O3], was prepared with different molar ratios of anionic groups to cationic groups using gamma irradiation. The grafting properties and swelling behavior were investigated as a function of grafting conditions such as DADMAC, AAm, SA, and CMC concentrations and absorbed dose. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic analysis (FTIR) confirmed the graft copolymerization. Scanning electron microscope (SEM) was employed to check the morphological structure of CMC, P(DADMAC-AAm)CMC/Fe2O3, and P(DADMAC-SA)CMC/Fe2O3. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) further characterized the grafted copolymers and showed their high thermal stability. Using batch sorption experiments and 60Co as a radiotracer, P(DADMAC-AAm)CMC/Fe2O3 and P(DADMAC-SA)CMC/Fe2O3 were evaluated for Co(II) removal from aqueous solutions. Experimentally, P(DADMAC-AAm)CMC/Fe2O3 and P(DADMAC-SA)CMC/Fe2O3 show high sorption capacity of Co(II), i.e. 69.67 mg g-1 and 75.17 mg g-1, respectively, which makes them potential sorbents for Co(II) removal from water/wastewater. Finally, the Co(II) sorption was examined using sorption isotherm and kinetic models. Cobalt sorption was best fitted to Langmuir model which suggests the sorption is of chemisorption type. On the other hand, the sorption kinetics was best represented by the pseudo-first-order kinetic model.

Chitosan­g­maleic acid for effective removal of copper and nickel ions from their solutions.

Pollution of the environment associated with discharging the toxic heavy metals in water makes us focus the light to solve this problem. In continuation of our efforts, we aim in this work to utilize the graft copolymer (chitosan­g­maleic acid) to purify water from copper and nickel ions. The graft copolymer has been synthesized using gamma radiation and the grafting conditions have been optimized by studying the influence of acetic acid concentration (0.5-10% V/V), monomer concentration (5-17.5% w/v), chitosan concentration (0.25-2.5% w/v) and absorbed dose (0.5-5 kGy). FT-IR and TGA have been employed to characterize the graft copolymer. The metal ions uptake by the prepared graft copolymer was investigated and the influence of contact time, solution pH, polymer concentration, and metal ion concentration was studied. Adsorption kinetic models (pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and intra-particle diffusion equations) and adsorption isotherms (Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin equations) were also studied. It was found that the adsorption kinetics and isotherm agreed well with pseudo-second-order and Langmuir equations, respectively, indicating that the adsorption was chemisorption. The adsorption capacities of CTS­g­MA were 312.4 mg g-1 and 70.1 mg g-1 for Cu2+ and Ni2+, respectively. Effect of co-existence of other cationic ions on the adsorption capacity was also investigated.