Nitrogen containing organosilicon bonded an Al2O3-cellulose acetate hybrid material:: Preparation, characterization and use for adsorption of Fe(III), Cu(II) and Zn(II) from ethanol solutions

This work describes the preparation and characterization of a cellulose acetate fiber coated with Al2O3, resulting in the organic-inorganic hybrid Cella/Al2O3. Furthermore, it was modified by attaching organofunctional groups, by reaction with the precursor reagents (RO)(3)Si(CH2)(3)L (L = -NH2, NH(CH2)(2)NH2, NH(CH2)(2)NH(CH2)(2)NH2 and NC3H3N), resulting in Cella/Al2O3/Si(CH2)(3)NH2 (1), Cella/Al2O3/Si(CH2)(3)NH(CH2)(2)NH2 (2), Cella/Al2O3/Si(CH2)(3)NH(CH2)(2) NH(CH2)(2)NH2 (3) and Cella/Al2O3/Si(CH2)(3)NC3H3N (imidazole) (4). The amount of attached organofunctional groups were (in mmol per gram of the material): 1 = 1.90, 2 = 1.89, 3 = 1.66 and 4 = 1.35. The adsorption isotherms from ethanol solutions of FeCl3, CuCl2 and ZnCl2 by Cella/Al2O3/Si(CH2)(3)L were obtained at 298 K. The results obtained in flow experiments showed a retention and recovery of ca. 100% of the metal ions by Cella/Al2O3/Si(CH2)(3)L packed in a column, for a solution containing either one or mixture of the ions.