Boron removal by glucamine-functionalized hydrogel beads in batch fashion

In this study, poly(hydroxypropyl methacrylate) gel beads were synthesized, then it was functionalized to yield glucamine carrying hydrogel beads as a sorbent for boron uptake. The batch-mode sorption studies were performed to obtain the optimum resin concentration and pH for boron removal. The results showed that percent of boron removal increased with increasing amount of resin and reached 98% at 12 mg-resin/mL-solution. The boron removal did not effected much with the change of pH between 4 and 9. The boron adsorption isotherm is in good accordance with the Langmuir and Freundlich equations. The equilibrium adsorption amount of boron is 13.5 mmol g^-1 at optimum conditions which is 5 to 50 times higher than the other boron selective adsorbents recorded in literature. Desorption studies showed that 100% elution is possible with HCl. As a conclusion the glucamine carrying hydrogel beads can be effectively used for uptake of boron from aqueous solutions because of their high boron adsorption capacity and reusability.