Studies of selective adsorption resins. XVIII. The influence of porosity of macroreticular chelating resin on adsorption of heavy metal ions in an aqueous solution^†

In order to choose the most practical macroreticular chelating resins for the removal and recovery of heavy metal ion from industrial waste solution, the influence of the porosity of macroreticular chelating resins on the adsorption for metal ion was studied. The four macroreticular chelating resins (RST) containing triethylenetetramine side chain with different porosity were used. It was found that the adsorption of zinc ion at its low concentration solution was affected by the porosity of the RST. Among the four resins with average pore radius of 21.0, 24.5, 28.0, and 66.5 nm, a resin with that of 66.5 nm gave the highest initial adsorption rate and the largest breakthrough capacity for zinc ion at a space velocity of 15 h⁻¹.