Abstract
This dissertation discusses the adsorbent's synthesis from a commercial acrylic yarn byintroducing an amidoxime and carboxylate groups. The pendant nitrile group on the yarn was
converted to amidoxime and carboxylate groups in two steps chemical reactions. The
synthesized adsorbent was categorized into various groups depending on the duration of the
amidoximation reaction. The duration of base hydrolysis was kept the same (18 h). IR and
SEM/XEDS were used to analyze the surface composition and structure. The prepared
adsorbent was tested for its adsorption capacity in removing various heavy metals in single
and in a mixture in the aqueous solution using Atomic Absorption Spectrometer and Inductive
Coupled Plasma – Mass Spectrometer. Kinetics and thermodynamic properties of the
adsorbent in aqueous 25 ppm lead nitrate were investigated in depth. pH 4.3 was found to be
the threshold pH for the adsorption to carry out below, in which no adsorption of lead was
observed. Different strategies were taken to confirm that both amidoxime and carboxylate are
participating in the adsorption (chapter 3). Modeling was done to get the information on the
mechanism of adsorption on the surface of the fiber. (chapter 4). A column study was also
performed to test its practicality. The potential mechanism of the base hydrolysis of the nitrile
group is proposed (chapter 5). The desorption study was studied briefly to recover the
adsorbent after use. The adsorption of Rear Earth Elements in the lanthanides series was
studied using the acrylic fiber-based adsorbent (chapter 6).