ION EXCHANGE MONOLITHIC COLUMN FOR COPPER DETERMINATION

Glycidyl methacrylate‐co-ethylene dimethcrylate-coacryl amide monolithic column was synthesized as a strong cation exchange column. A borosilicate tube (60 mm in length) with 1.5 mm and 3.0 mm (i.d and o.d respectively) was used for in-situ copolymerization using U.V light source. Monomers (glycidyle metharcrylate and acrylamide) and crosslinker ethylene dimethacrylate were dissolved in a porogenic solvent consisting of 1-propanol and 2-butanol. The polymer was formed after 4 min. After that, the epoxy groups in glycidyle methacrylate were opened to form a cation exchange monolithic column by pumping 0.2 M HCl. The monolith was characterized using diverse techniques such as FT-IR, BET, and FE-SEM. From FT-IR spectrum it can be noticed that the peak of (C=C) in the monomers and crosslinker are disappeared which is consider a significant indicator for polymer formation. The BET technique was used to investigate the pore size and surface area of the monolith, the result showed that the average pores size was 5.1859 nm and the surface area was 16.021 m/g. The FE-SEM technique was used to study the monolith morphology and the type of pore and the result proved that the monolith has a network of enormous channels and macroporse. The Prepared monolith in this study was used to remove copper ions and determine these ions using ion-exchange techniques.