STUDIES OF POLYSTYRENE-BASED ION-EXCHANGE FIBER .1. THE PREPARATION AND FUNDAMENTAL CHARACTERISTICS OF POLYSTYRENE-BASED ION-EXCHANGE FIBER

A polystyrene-based ion exchange fiber which has a large ion exchange capacity (ca. 2. 5 mequiv g** minus **1) and a high mechanical strength (ca. 1. 4 g d** minus **1) has first been prepared by using an islands-in-a-sea type composite fiber, the sea ingredient predominantly comprised of polystyrene for ion exchange and the island ingredient comprised of fiber-forming polypropylene for reinforcement, as the starting material; it can be used in an arbitrary form. It was found that the resulting fiber has two fundamental characteristics; the ion exchange rate for metal ions is extremely high, and the capacity of adsorbing the macromolecular ionic substance is exceedingly large, compared with ordinary ion exchange resins. The diffusion equation of ion exchange in the case of a cylindrical, endless fiber was solved by a modification of the method used for a spherical resin in a simple system. The former results are interpreted in terms of their solutions for two limiting cases.