The PP-g-Vim-CH3I adsorbent, which possesses antibacterial and ion-exchange functions, was synthesized by photoinduced grafting of 1-vinyl imidazole (Vim) onto polypropylene, non-woven fabric and subsequent quaternization using methyl iodide (CH3I). The adsorption properties of PP-g-Vim-CH3I for nitrate ion were studied in batch mode and fixed-bed columns. The adsorption equilibria of NO3-N on PP-g-Vim-CH3I were well described by the Langmuir isotherm model, and the adsorption energy was 9.03 kJ/mol, which indicates an ion-exchange process. Adsorption-kinetic data were fitted with a pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The Bohart-Adams model was found to be suitable for simulating the breakthrough curves obtained from the fixed-bed columns. The fixed-bed sorption capacity of nitrate ion from the model was in the range 100.8 ~ 108.6 mg/g without the presence of competing anions but decreased to the range 55.7 ~ 96.2 mg/ g in groundwater due to adsorption competition with the coexisting anions, especially SO4 2− ion. The PP-g-Vim-CH3I adsorbent could be regenerated by washing with 1.0 N NaCl without serious lowering the adsorption capacity.

In recent years, the demand for advanced treatments in the water-treatment industry has increased, and physicochemicalseparation technologies have come into wide use. However, biofouling is a major problem for the separation processes in water and wastewater treatment. One anti-biofouling strategy is to construct antibacterial surfaces. In this work, polypropylene (PP) fiber was endowed with antibacterial/adsorption property by photoinduced graft polymerization of 1- vinyl imidazole (Vim) followed by quaternization with alkyl iodides. A concentration of Vim equal to 5 vol.% in 10-20 vol.% methanol, a photoirradiation time of 5 h and a reaction temperature of 80oC proved to be optimal for the grafting of Vim onto PP. The modified PP fibers were characterized by means of FT-IR, SEM, antibacterial and adsorption tests. We found that the quaternized PP-g-Vim fiber with methyl iodide exhibited high adsorption capacity for NO3-N and excellent antibacterial activities against both E. coli and S. aureus.

The efficiency of PP-g-AA and PP-g-St nonwoven fabric synthesized by photoinduced polymerization as an adsorbent for removal NH3-N from waste water was evaluated. The results evidently indicate that the adsorption capacities of NH3-N onto PP-g-AA nonwoven fabric were extremely superior to those onto sulfonated PP-g-St nonwoven fabric, PK and zeolite. PP-g-AA nonwoven fabric showed the maximum adsorption capacity of NH3-N at the degree of grafting of 80 wt.%. The adsorption behaviour of NH3-N onto PP-g-AA and sulfonated PP-g-St nonwoven fabric was controlled by an ion exchange reaction, and tended to be similar to both trends of Langmiur and Freundlish isotherm. Futhermore, PP-g-AA non-woven fabric could be regenerated more than 5 times by a simple washing with 0.1N HCl with no decrease of adsorption capacity and no degradation of physical properties. Also sulfonated PP-g-St nonwoven fabric could be regenerated by washing with 0.1N H2O4. However, their regeneration efficiency was significantly low because grafting layer acted as functional radical for adsorption was continuously desquamated in the adsorption or regeneration processes, which resulted in decrease of adsorption capacity and weight of adsorbent. All results obtained from this study indicate that the NH3-N removal capacity of PP-g-AA non-woven fabric was extremely superior to those of PP-g-St non-woven fabric, PK and zeolite.