The Application of Polymer Inclusion Membranes Based on CTA with 1-alkylimidazole for the Separation of Zinc(II) and Manganese(II) Ions from Aqueous Solutions

Elzbieta Radzyminska-Lenarcik; Malgorzata Ulewicz

doi:10.3390/polym11020242

The Application of Polymer Inclusion Membranes Based on CTA with 1-alkylimidazole for the Separation of Zinc(II) and Manganese(II) Ions from Aqueous Solutions

Polymers (Basel). 2019 Feb 1;11(2):242. doi: 10.3390/polym11020242.

Authors

Elzbieta Radzyminska-Lenarcik¹, Malgorzata Ulewicz²

Affiliations

¹ Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, UTP University of Science and Technology, PL85326 Bydgoszcz, Poland. elaradz@utp.edu.pl.
² Faculty of Civil Engineering, Czestochowa University of Technology, PL42201 Czestochowa, Poland. ulewicz@bud.pcz.pl.

Abstract

Polymer cellulose triacetate membranes doped with 1-alkylimidazole as fixed carriers were applied for the investigation of the facilitated transport of Zn(II) and Mn(II) ions from an aqueous sulphate feed phase (c_M = 0.001 mol/dm³). For the polymer inclusion membranes (PIMs) doped with 1-alkylimidazole (alkyl ⁻ from hexyl up to decyl), the following patterns of transport selectivity were found: Zn(II) > Mn(II). The highest initial flux of Zn(II) ions (2.65 µmol/m²·s) was found for PIMs doped with 1-decyl-imidazole, whereas the best Zn(II)/Mn(II) selectivity coefficients equal to 19.7 were found for 1-hexyl-imidazole. Permeability coefficients for Zn(II) and Mn(II) ions transported across PIMs increase with an increase in the pK_a values of 1-alkylimidazole. The polymer membranes of cellulose triacetate-o-NPPE with 1-alkylimidazole were characterised by scanning electron microscopy, non-contact atomic force microscopy and thermal analysis techniques. The influence of membrane morphology on the Zn(II) and Mn(II) transport process was discussed.

Keywords: 1-alkylimidazole; AFM; SEM; manganese(II); polymer inclusion membrane; zinc(II).