RETENTION OF HEAVY-METAL IONS BY A NEW SYNTHETIC HYDROGEL

Synthetic gels obtained by esterification reactions of oligomers, followed by grafting copolymerization, were used to remove heavy metal ions from aqueous solutions with different concentrations and pH values. The polymeric structure butadiene-acrylic acid-sucrose-hydroxyethylmethacrylate (BuAA-Suc-HEMA) contains groups able to bind metal ions such as Cu2+, Ni2+, Pb2+, Co2+ and UO22+. This paper describes the ability of this gel to retain these metals as demonstrated in our laboratory. Determinations, before and after passing the solutions through a column, were carried out using atomic absorption spectroscopy.