Efficient removal of Hg (II) ions from waste water by a new nano-composite poly-o-toluidine tin-zirconium (IV) molybdophosphate

A new nano-composite cation exchanger poly-o-toluidine tin-zirconium (IV) molybdophosphate (PTD-SnZrMoP) was synthesised by incorporating conducting polymer poly-o-toluidine into a novel four-component inorganic cation exchanger tin-zirconium (IV) molybdophosphate with two cations and two anions. The nano-composite was characterised by FTIR, FESEM, TEM, XRD and TGA/DTA techniques. The ion exchange capacity of the nano-composite ion exchanger (2.40 meq/g) was observed to be higher as compared to that of its inorganic counterpart (1.95meq/g). The nanocomposite was found to be thermally stable, and retained 60.4% of its ion exchange capacity up to a temperature of 400°C. Elution behaviour, thermal stability, chemical stability, distribution studies and quantitative separations of metal ions from synthetic binary mixtures as well as real life effluent samples from a thermal power plant on poly-o-toluidine tin-zirconium (IV) molybdophosphate nano-composite exchanger were also investigated. The nano-composite was employed for the quantitative separation of Hg (II) ions from thermal power plant effluents.