Functionalization of polyacrylonitrile fiber by iminodiaceticacid for adsorption and removal of samarium ion from environmental samples

This paper reports resulting adsorption and removal of heavy metal via modification of polyacrylonitrile (PAN) with iminodiaceticacid (IDA). Scanning electron microscope (SEM), fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), were applied to characterize the polyacrylonitrile- iminodiaceticacid (PAN-IDA). Inaddition, PAN-IDA was employed for preconcentration and determination of trace Sm(III) ion from environmental water samples with inductively coupled plasma–atomic emission spectroscopy. The optimum pH value for sorption of the metal ion was 5.7 with 100% recovery. The sorption capacity of functionalized modified fiber was found 0.256 mg.g−1 for Sm(III). The functionalized fiber can be reused for 10 cycles of sorption–desorption without any significant change in sorption capacity. The equilibrium adsorption data of Sm(III) on modified fiber were analyzed by Freundlich, Temkin, and Redlich–Peterson models. The method was applied for samarium ions determination from real sample. The saturation adsorption capacity for samarium metal was measured 37.5 mg.g-1. In addition, over 90% of metal ion was recovered from the metal-loaded PAN-IDA in 0.5 mol L-1 HNO3 solution after one hour.