Synthesis of porous acrylonitrile/methyl acrylate copolymer beads by suspended emulsion polymerization and their adsorption properties after amidoximation.

Porous acrylonitrile (AN)/methyl acrylate (MA) copolymer beads were prepared by suspended emulsion polymerization. The cyano groups in AN/MA copolymer beads were converted to amidoxime (AO) groups by reaction with hydroxylamine hydrochloride (NH(2)OH.HCl) to remove metal ions in aqueous solution. The untreated AN/MA and amidoximated AN/MA (AO AN/MA) copolymer beads were characterized by FTIR spectroscopy, SEM, and porous structural analysis. Both mesopores and macropores were presented in AN/MA and AO AN/MA copolymer beads. Qualitative experiments of adsorption were conducted to evaluate modified and unmodified resins on fixing Hg(2+), Ag(+), Cu(2+), Fe(3+) and Pb(2+) from aqueous solution using batch extractions. It was found that AO AN/MA copolymer beads have excellent adsorption capacities for Hg(2+), Ag(+) and Cu(2+), especially for Hg(2+), and it have good selectivity for Hg(2+). The equilibrium was established in 10h through adsorption kinetics study. The Langmuir model was much better than the Freundlich model to describe the isothermal process.