Role of cationic surfactants in palladium adsorption of commercial ion exchange resins using electroless plating solutions

Abstract

This work investigates the role of cationic surfactants in the adsorption of palladium ions from synthetic electroless plating solutions using a commercial resin, Lewatit TP-214. This would also help us in determining the batch adsorption experiments elaborated on the optimal parameters such as surfactant concentration, pH, dosage, initial metal ion concentration for the development of an ion-exchange resin with high metal removal efficiency. Critical micelle concentration (CMC) appears to be an important parameter in determining the adsorption behavior of ion-exchange resins with palladium ions. Equilibrium models were measured for their fitness with the obtained Pd (II) batch adsorption characteristics and Freundlich isotherm confirms the heterogeneous Pd (II) adsorption on Lewatit TP-214. FTIR analysis confirmed that the Pd (II) metal uptake of Lewatit TP-214 resin largely depends on amine groups (-NH2þ and -NHþ) and the donor atoms attached to cationic surfactant. The optimized choice of adsorption parameters (pH of 8, dosage of 1 g/L, and contact time of 300 min) of Lewatit TP-214 adsorbent provided the highest metal uptake and removal efficiency as 201.7 mg/g and 90.16%, respectively, for the lowest Pd concentration of 300 mg/L.