Effect of Adsorption of Polyethyleneimine on the Behaviour of Anion Exchange Resin

Removal of undesirable ions from drinking water using an ion exchange resin may be affected by the nature of the resin surface. An improve of exchange properties can be obtained by modification of ion exchange surface which can be realized by immersion of the resin in aqueous solutions containing organic macro-ions. This procedure gives a rise on adsorption characteristics of the exchanger matrix. Therefore, a change in fixation rate is confirmed and kinetic of ions transference has been examined. In the present work, the adsorption of some effective compounds on anionic resin Amberlite IRA-900 by impregnation has been investigated; polyethyleneimine (PEI), potassium adipate and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) are the adsorbates used for the surface modification. Removal and separation of chloride and nitrate anions have been also studied according to the adsorption of these adsorbates. It was observed that the affinity of resin towards anions was changed according structure and physical characteristics of adsorbate. Furthermore, an elevated ratio of nitrate removal has been observed especially with PEI adsorption. For this reason, different parameters of PEI adsorption were examined: concentration of PEI, pH range of PEI, and time of impregnation. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer-review under responsibility of ISWEE'11