Separation of Ga(III) from Cu(II), Ni(II) and Zn(II) in aqueous solution using synthetic polymeric resins

Abstract

Poly (acrylamide-acrylic acid-dimethylaminoethylmethacrylate), p(AM-AA-DMAEM) and Poly(acrylamide-acrylic acid)-ethylenediaminetetracetic acid disodium, p(AM-AA)-EDTANa2 were prepared by gamma radiation-induced template polymerization technique and used for the separation of Ga (III) from Cu (II), Ni (II), and Zn (II) in aqueous media. The effect of pH and contact time on the separation process was studied. The optimum pH value for the separation process is 3-3.5. The result shows that Ga (III) is first extracted while Cu (II), Ni (II) and Zn(II) are slightly extracted at this pH value. The recovery of metals using HCl, HNO3 and H2SO4 has been studied. The resins may be regenerated using 2M HCl solutions. © Versita Warsaw and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2008.