Polyvinylamine-grafted polypropylene membranes for adsorptive removal of Cr(VI) from water

There are huge demands for the development of green, environmentally friendly, and easily prepared cationic adsorbents for treatment of chromium-contaminated water. In this research, we demonstrate the fabrication of a novel polyvinylamine-grafted polypropylene membrane (PPM-PVAm) for Cr(VI) adsorption. Based on a rapid two-step method, polypropylene membrane (PPM) was grafted with high biomedical safety N-vinylformamide (NVF), and then amino groups were generated via hydrolysis of the poly(N-vinylformamide) (PNVF) and these amino groups could be protonated under acidic condition as Cr(VI) adsorbing sites. The effects of both the PNVF grafting rate and its degree of hydrolysis on the adsorption performance of PPM-PVAm were investigated. The membrane with a PNVF grafting rate around 55% (wt) and a degree of hydrolysis around 70–80% exhibits the best performance for Cr(VI) adsorption under the optimal conditions, i.e. pH 2 at about 40 °C. The adsorption of Cr(VI) on PPM-PVAm matches the Langmuir model, showing a maximum Cr(VI) adsorption capacity of 208.3 mg per gram dry membrane. PPM-PVAm could be deprotonated under alkaline condition so the adsorbed Cr(VI) could be easily removed by NaOH/NaCl aqueous solution. The membrane shows excellent recycling performance, and 90.6% of the adsorption capability remains even after 10 cycles of adsorption-desorption test. Combining the unique performance and eco-friendly process in the fabrication of the membrane, PPM-PVAm shows great potential in adsorptive removal of Cr(VI) from water.