FUNCTIONALISATION OF GLYCIDYL METHACRYLATE DIVINYL BENZENE BASED POLYMER FOR REMOVAL OF METHYLENE BLUE AND METHYL ORANGE FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS

Dyes are reported to be in the significant class of pollutants and efficient treatment methods are required for the removal from waters. In the present study, macroporous glycidyl methacrylate (GMA)-methylmethacrylate (MMA)-divinyl benzene (DVB) terpolymer functionalised with diethylenetriamine tetra acetic acid (DTTA), (GMA-MMA-DVB-DTTA) was applied for the removal of methyl orange (MO) and methylene blue (MB), respectively. The impact of several variables on the adsorption process (sorbent amount, contact time, temperature and pH) was studied. Some isotherm (Dubinin-Radushkevich, Freundlich and Langmuir) and kinetic (pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order and intraparticle diffusion) models were employed to evaluate the sorption process. Moreover, thermodynamic parameters, viz. entropy enthalpy, Gibbs free energy were estimated to predict the nature of adsorption. The proposed sorbent worked efficiently in real water samples with acceptable accuracy and precision. The results suggested that GMA-MMA-DVB-DTTA could be used as an effective and proper adsorbent for the removal of MB and MO from waters.