IMPROVEMENT of THE SORPTION PERFORMANCE of NANOSILICA AND POLYMERIC SOLID SUPPORTS by IMPREGNATION WITH IONIC LIQUID for THE REMOVAL of Cr(VI) IONS FROM AQUEOUS SOLUTIONS

In this study, supported ionic liquid phase (SILP) adsorbents prepared by immobilizing the ionic liquids (ILs) onto nanosilica and styrene-divinylbenzene copolymer (SDVB) particles have been examined for the removal of hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solutions. Three types of ionic liquids such as tricapryl methyl ammonium nitrate [A336][NO3], tricapryl methyl ammonium chloride (Aliquat？ 336) and 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide (EMIMTf2N) were successfully impregnated onto solid supports by following physical impregnation method through ultrasonication. Therefore, the advantages of ionic liquids are combined with the properties of solid supports. The structural and morphological characterizations of the adsorbents were investigated by FTIR, SEM, and BET analysis. The thermal stability of the ionic liquid impregnated solid particles was also characterized by TGA analysis. Metal sorption performances of the prepared sorbents have been investigated by considering Cr(VI) ions sorption regarding with the thermodynamic and kinetic aspects. Optimum conditions for the removal of Cr(VI) ions from aqueous solutions were determined by series of batch sorption studies. Maximum adsorption yield was obtained for all prepared adsorbent having the imregnation ratio of 1 g-ionic liquid/g-support. Moreover, the removal percentages of chromium ions were found to be 99.53%, 99.50% and 100% for TT600-TS, MOX80-TS and XAD-A , respectively. Sorption isotherms were also fitted with Langmuir equation and they were exhibited favorable sorption behavior.