Evaluation of synthetic PVP-HEMA as a polymeric material for the removal of lead ions from aqueous solutions

Due to widespread environmental exposure, lead is still a significant risk that has attracted attention from throughout the globe. Lead can be found in both radioactive and industrial wastes. Thus, before wastewater is released into the environment or made available to the public, lead ions need to be removed. Therefore, the goal of this effort was to remove lead ions from aqueous solution to protect the environment from this risk. To accomplish this, gamma radiation at different doses (5–30 kGy) was used to produce poly vinyl pyrrolidone-poly hydroxyethyl methacrylate (PVP-HEMA), which was subsequently employed to remove lead ions from liquid phase. FT-IR and XRD were utilized to characterize the produced polymeric material. PVP-HEMA's sorption performance was assessed by examining a few sorption process-influencing variables, including the impact of medium pH, contact time, and metal ion concentration. The sorption process is governed by a pseudo-second-order model, as demonstrated by the kinetic investigations. PVP-HEMA was shown to have a higher saturation sorption capacity (72.5 mg/g) than other materials that have been employed in the literature.