Design of High Efficiency Fibers for Ion Exchange and Heavy Metal Removal

Abstract

The ability of a thiol group to bind to the highly toxic arsenite ion (as is done in proteins and enzymes) provided the model used to chemically modify and characterize a polyvinyl alcohol mercaptyl fibrous system, coated on a fiberglass substrate, for the purpose of arsenite (As3+) removal from water. Physical/chemical aspects of naturally occurring thiols and disulfides was used to draw parallels to observations found with the polyvinyl alcohol mercaptyl system and its reactivity towards arsenite. The ability of these systems to chelate arsenite was presented through equilibrium adsorption isotherms. All fibrous systems were characterized through a variety of techniques such as scanning electron microscopy, diffuse reflectance infrared spectroscopy, elemental analysis, analytical analysis, and thermal analysis of the copolymer.