Magnetic vinylphenyl boronic acid microparticles for Cr(VI) adsorption: kinetic, isotherm and thermodynamic studies.

Magnetic vinylphenyl boronic acid microparticles, poly(ethylene glycol dimethacrylate(EG)-vinylphenyl boronic acid(VPBA)) [m-poly(EG-VPBA)], produced by suspension polymerization and characterized, was found to be an efficient solid polymer for Cr(VI) adsorption. The m-poly(EG-VPBA) microparticles were prepared by copolymerizing of ethylene glycol dimethylacrylate (EG) with 4-vinyl phenyl boronic acid (VPBA). The m-poly(EG-VPBA) microparticles were characterized by N2 adsorption/desorption isotherms, electron spin resonance (ESR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA), elemental analysis, scanning electron microscope (SEM) and swelling studies. The m-poly(EG-VPBA) microparticles were used at adsorbent/Cr(VI) ion ratios. The influence of pH, Cr(VI) initial concentration, temperature of the removal process was investigated. The maximum removal of Cr(VI) was observed at pH 2. Langmuir isotherm and Dubinin-Radushkvich isotherm were found to better fit the experiment data rather than Fruendlich isotherm. The kinetics of the adsorption process of Cr(VI) on the m-poly(EG-VPBA) microparticles were investigated using the pseudo first-order, pseudo-second-order, Ritch-second-order and intraparticle diffusion models, results showed that the pseudo-second order equation model provided the best correlation with the experimental results. The thermodynamic parameters (free energy change, ΔG(0) enthalpy change, ΔH(0); and entropy change, ΔS(0)) for the adsorption have been evaluated.