Sorption of Textile Dye from Aqueous Solution by Macroporous Amino-Functionalized Copolymer

Abstract

Macroporous poly(glycidyl methacrylate-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) (PGME) was synthesized by suspension copolymerization and functionalized with diethylene triamine (PGME-deta). The effect of pH, contact time, and sorbent mass on sorption efficiency of initial and functionalized copolymer sample for removal of Acid Orange 10 dye from aqueous solutions was studied. No dye was sorbed by nonfunctionalized copolymer, indicating that sorption of Acid Orange 10 by PGME-deta is specific, through amino groups. The isotherm data are best fitted by Langmuir model, indicating homogeneous distribution of active sites in PGME-deta as well as monolayer sorption. Sorption kinetics study showed that the sorption of Acid Orange 10 by PGME-deta obeys the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. It was shown that PGME-deta selectively sorbs Acid Orange 10 from binary solution with Bezaktiv Rot reactive dye. The comparison of sorption characteristics of PGME-deta with activated carbon showed that this functionalized copolymer might be used as an alternative sorbent for textile dyes.