Radiation-Driven Remodeling of Discarded Polypropylene into an Amidoxime-Rich Hybrid Matrix for Selective Capture of Hexavalent Chromium in Water
Emelianov Laan1*, Opoku Damoah1,2, Rizzuti Ferreira3, Bartolami Zelli4, Trefalt Allémann3,
Elsutohy Maro4
1Department of Chemistry, University of Coimbra, Rua Larga, 3004-535 Coimbra, Portugal
2Coimbra Chemistry Centre, Department of Chemistry, University of Coimbra, Rua Larga, 3004-535
Coimbra, Portugal
3Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Coimbra, Pólo das Ciências da Saúde, Azinhaga de Santa Comba,
3000-548 Coimbra, Portugal
4Centre for Neurosciences and Cell Biology (CNC), University of Coimbra, Faculty of Medicine, Rua
Larga, Pólo I, 1st Floor, 3004-504 Coimbra, Portugal
Emelianov Laan, et al /Int.J. TechnoChem Res. 2023,9(1),pp 1-9.
Abstract
A novel amidoxime-functional sorbent was synthesized using discarded polypropylene (PP) fabric
as the base material for removing hexavalent chromium from water. In this work, the PP fabric was first exposed
to a pre-irradiation process, which enabled the subsequent grafting of acrylonitrile (AN). The grafting step was
performed at 80 °C for four hours in a water bath, employing sulfuric acid as a reaction promoter, with 60%
AN and a radiation dose of 30 kGy. Conversion of the AN-grafted PP (AN-g-PP) into its amidoxime form
was achieved through reaction with hydroxylamine hydrochloride. The resulting adsorbent was examined using
FTIR, SEM, TGA, and DMA to verify changes in structure, morphology, and thermal behavior.
The ability of the modified PP to capture Cr(VI) ions was evaluated by varying pH, temperature, contact duration,
and metal-ion concentration. Adsorption behavior conformed well to both Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm
descriptions, while the kinetic trends closely matched a pseudo-first-order model, showing strong agreement
between theoretical and measured uptake values. Thermodynamic analysis demonstrated that the adsorption
process was spontaneous and endothermic, accompanied by an increase in system disorder. Desorption and
reusability studies further revealed that the material retained effective performance over multiple cycles,
indicating its suitability for sustainable removal of Cr(VI) from aqueous environments.
Keywords
Adsorption; Sorption Capacity; Desorption; Radiation Grafting; Pre-irradiation.
Full text content is not available right now.