Nanocomposites and nanomaterials 

Adsorption of Some Toxic Metal Ions on Pine Sawdust in Situ Immobilized by Polyaniline

E. Yanovska, I. Savchenko, O. Petrenko, V. Davydov

National Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv, 60, Volodymyrska str., 01601 Kyiv, Ukraine E-mail: iras@univ.kiev.ua

Large amounts of toxic metals found in the biosphere as a result of corrosion or because of industrial pollution account for the topical problem associated with searching new technologies aimed at decontamination of soil and ground waters in order to make them suitable for the repeated use again.
Poly aniline in situ immobilized on the surface of some natural minerals makes it possible to produce adsorbents possessing rather good capacity and high efficiency to adsorb a number of toxic metal ions, but even the many times repeated employment of such materials gives the ultimate rise to some more new solid waste [1]. Modifying the surface of wood-based materials with poly aniline or its derivatives makes it possible to produce quite cheep nontoxic adsorbents that could be used for the efficient solid-phase extraction of various metals from sewage or contaminated natural waters, followed by the incineration of the adsorbent and producing mixture of oxides [2].
This work is devoted to the in situ immobilization of polyaniline on the the surface of pine sawdust and the study of its sorption properties with respect to ions Cu(ІІ), Co(ІІ), Cd(ІІ), Ni(ІІ), Pb(ІІ), Zn(II) and Fe(ІІІ) ions at various pH values.
The adsorption of all the ions has been found to increase as the pH value grows. The sawdust in situ immobilized by poly aniline has been shown to adsorb as much as 56 mg/g of Fe(III) ions from slightly alkaline solutions (pH 8) within just first several minutes of the experiment which could be used for purification of industrial waste solutions from these ions. Such composites based on the sawdust in situ modified by poly aniline could also be potential adsorbents for purification of national water resourced contaminated by Pb(II) and Cd(II) in slightly alkaline solutions (pH 8) to reach their limit concentrations. 

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2. S. Trey, S. Jafarzadeh, M. Johansson.. In situ polymerization of polyaniline in wood veneers. // ACS Appl. Mater. & Interfaces.- 2012.- 4 (3). -1760–1769.