Selective removal of mercury(II) from wastewater using polythioamides.

The potential and feasibility of polythioamides as Hg(II) sorbents were evaluated. Powdered polythioamides quantitatively sorbed Hg(II) from an aqueous solution at pH 1-8. The sorption of Hg(II) on polythioamides obeyed the Langmuir adsorption isotherm; the sorption capacity was 0.70-0.85 g-Hgg(-1). Hg(II) was selectively separated from solutions containing 500 times larger amounts of Mn(II), Fe(III), Cu(II), Zn(II), and Pb(II) at pH 1. The tertiary polythioamide (PTA1) is soluble in chloroform and can be readily coated on a commercially available polymer resin, Amberlite XAD7HP. PTA1-coated resin as well as powdered PTA1 were applicable to the selective removal of Hg(II) from real wastewater.