Graft copolymer of acrylamide onto cellulose as mercury selective sorbent

Polyacrylamide grafted onto cellulose has been demonstrated to be a very ef ficient selective sorbent for removal of mercuric ions from aqueous solutio ns. The mercury-uptake capacity of the graft polymer is as high as 3.55 mmo l/g and sorption is also reasonably fast. Thus, 0.2 g of the graft copolyme r is able to extract 50 ppm Hg(II) from 50 mi water completely in 8 min. Th e Hg(LI) sorption is selective and no interferences have been observed in t he presence of Ni(II), Co(II), Cd(II), Fe(III), Zn(II) ions in 0.1 M concen trations at pH 6. Regeneration of the loaded polymer without losing its ori ginal activity can be achieved using hot acetic acid. The graft copolymer d escribed seems very suitable for removal of large amounts of mercury in hyd rometallurgical applications and may also be useful for other water treatme nts. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.