Decontamination of synthetic solutions containing heavy metals using chemically modified sawdusts bearing polyacrylic acid chains

New materials containing carboxylate groups have been synthesized by grafti ng polyacrylic acid onto sawdust. These new adsorbents were subjected to co ntinuous extraction of different metal ions using packed columns to determi ne their maximum binding capacities. They exhibit binding capacities 15-40 times higher than unmodified sawdusts for removal of Cu2+, Ni2+, and Cd2+ c hosen as representative heavy metal ions. Cation desorption and adsorbent r egeneration could be effected by elution with a diluted HCl solution; water as an eluent has no effect on metal desorption.