Application of Modern Research Methods for the Physicochemical Characterization of Ion Exchangers

Ion exchange technique as the reversible exchange of ions between the substrate and the surrounding medium can be an effective way of removing traces of ion impurities from the waters and wastewaters and obtaining a product of ultrapure quality. Therefore, it can be used in analytical chemistry, hydrometallurgy, purification and separation of metal ions, radioisotopes and organic compounds, and it also finds great application in water treatment and pollution control. In the presented paper, the new trends for ion exchanger characteristics determination and application are presented. Special attention is paid to the ion exchangers with multifunctionality for heavy metal ions removal. They show superior actions such as sorption capacity values with excellent resistance to fouling and the possibility of application in the co-current or modern packed bed counter-current systems, as well as for the condensate polishing or the conventional mixed bed systems in combination with other resins. The results of the paper are expected to help researchers to establish a powerful strategy to find a suitable ion exchanger for heavy metal ions removal from waters and wastewaters. It is important because the best ion exchangers are selected for a specific application during laboratory tests taking into account the composition of the feed solution, pH, type of ion exchangers and then the column breakthrough tests. Therefore, the optical profilometry and the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy can prove beneficial for this purpose in the case of three different ion exchangers such as Dowex M 4195, Amberlite IRA 743 and Purolite Arsen Xnp.

Nano Sized Tin Zirconium Phosphate Ion Exchanger as Copper Scavenger

A new four component nano sized tin zirconium molybdophosphate, an inorganic ion exchanger of the class of tetravalent metal acid (TMA) salts has been synthesized by co-precipitation method and its ion exchange behaviour was studied. Characterization of the exchanger was done by ICP-AES method and structural studies were carried out using TGA, XRD and FTIR. From the XRD pattern studies, the synthesized ion exchanger was found to be size of 70- 75 nm. The sodium exchange capacity of material was found to be 3.92meq/g. The chemical resistivity of the material has been assessed in various acids, bases and organic solvents like 1M HNO3, IM H2SO4, acetic acid etc. The effects of temperature on capacity, effect of electrolyte concentration and analytical applications also were studied. The protons of hydroxyl groups were found to be the active site. The distribution coefficients of different metal ions like Pb2+, Cu2+, Co2+, Cd2+, Mn2+, Zn2+, Mg2+, Bi3+, Hg2+, Ni2+, Th4+, Ca2+ were studied. On the basis of distribution studies, it was found that the exchanger has high affinity towards Pb2+ and Cu2+ compared with other metal ions. Due to its high affinity towards copper metal ion, it can be used as copper scavenger for waste water treatment and its binary separation of Cu2+ from Mn2+, Mg2+, Cd2+ and Ni2+ was carried out. The UV- Visible Spectrophotometer model JASCO V660 with diffuse reflectance accessories is used to study the absorption of the copper ion on the ion exchange.