Advanced Modified Polyacrylonitrile Membrane with Enhanced Adsorption Property for Heavy Metal Ions

Advanced modified polyacrylonitrile (PAN) membrane with high adsorption property for heavy metal ions was designed and fabricated for the first time. The introduced diazoresin-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (DR-EDTA) layer could effectively absorb the metal ion, such as Cu2+, Pb2+, Hg2+ in the waste water. The effects of layers, metal ion concentration, pH, temperature and cycle time were investigated. The results showed that the adsorption isotherms for Cu2+ were well fitted by Langmuir model. The maximum adsorption capacity of the modified membrane for Cu2+ was approximately 47.6 mg/g. In addition, the prepared PAN-(DR-EDTA)3 membrane could be regenerated more than 720 h based on their adsorption/desorption cycles. The results demonstrated that the modified PAN membrane could be used as effective adsorbents for heavy metal removal from waste water.