The adsorbent of nitrated styrofoam waste for removal of copper and manganese ions in aqueous solution

Abstract

Styrofoam waste is hazardous waste for both humans and the environment so that styrofoam recycling becomes more necessary. In this paper, styrofoam waste reported successfully nitrated with nitric acid/sulfuric acid mixture to form an adsorbent to remove Cu(II) and Mn(II) from aqueous solutions. The adsorbent was synthesized with times and sizes variations and also characterized by FTIR. In 24 hours synthesizing conditions and 60 mesh styrofoam size, the property of degree of incorporated cation exchange found 6 mmol/g. The optimum contact time for Cu(II) and Mn(II) removal was 60 min with the removal percentage of 90,8% and 14,2%, respectively. Meanwhile, the addition of 25 mg adsorbent could remove 74,4% of Cu(II) and 16,5% Mn(II). The optimum addition of adsorbent weight was 125 mg with the removal percentage of Cu(II) and Mn(II) were 78,9% and 20,6%, respectively.