Preparation of polyacrylamide–montmorillonite nanocomposite and its application in Cr(III) adsorption

The polyacrylamide–montmorillonite “water in water” (PAM-MMT W/W) emulsion was prepared by dispersion polymerization method in the presence of organo-montmorillonite (OMMT). Based on the analysis of the polymerization process, the structure of material was investigated using thermogravimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, X-ray diffractometry, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy experiments. Here, the dispersion was determined to be a blend of PAM W/W emulsion and PAM network interspersed by MMT particles, this unique structure of the material was considered to provide better adsorption ability compared to PAM without MMT. Therefore, a PAM-MMT adsorbent was made from the PAM-MMT W/W emulsion, and its adsorption capacity toward Cr(III), one of the heavy metal pollutants from the tannery waste was investigated. The PAM-MMT nanocomposite was demonstrated to have good Cr(III) removal performance, the maximum adsorption capacity of the nanocomposite was found to be 59.74 mg/g at a pH of 5.5 and temperature of 70°C. Results show that pseudo-second-order kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm were applicable for Cr(III) adsorption.