New efficient chelating polymers based on plastic waste for removal of toxic heavy metal pollutants

New efficient chelating polymers (CPs) based on waste polystyrene functionalized by itaconic acid moieties in absence and presence of montmorillonite clay have been prepared using high shearing effect homogenizer. The obtained CPs have been characterized using spectrophotometric and thermal analyses. The prepared CPs have been used as potential adsorbents for removal of different toxic metal ions from their aqueous solutions. The adsorption performance of the obtained CPs was found to match well with Langmuir adsorption isotherms. The highest sorption affinity of the obtained CPs toward different metal ions was for copper and lead.