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Here we report the method of fabrication of supermacroporous monolith sorbents (cryogels) via covalent cross-linking of polyallylamine (PAA) with diglycidyl ether of 1,4-butandiol. Using comparative analysis of the permeability and sorption performance of the obtained PAA cryogels and earlier developed polyethyleneimine (PEI) cryogels, we have demonstrated the advantages and disadvantages of these polymers as sorbents of heavy metal ions (Cu(II), Zn(II), Cd(II), and Ni(II)) in fixed-bed applications and as supermacroporous matrices for the fabrication of composite cryogels containing copper ferrocyanide (CuFCN) for cesium ion sorption. Applying the rate constant distribution (RCD) model to the kinetic curves of Cu(II) ion sorption on PAA and PEI cryogels, we have elucidated the difference in sorption/desorption rates and affinity constants of these materials and showed that physical sorption contributed to the Cu(II) uptake by PAA, but not to that by PEI cryogels. It was shown that PAA cryogels had significantly higher selectivity for Cu(II) sorption in the presence of Zn(II) and Cd(II) ions in comparison with that of PEI cryogels, while irreversible sorption of Co(II) ions by PEI can be used for the separation of Ni(II) and Co(II) ions. Using IR and Mössbauer spectroscopy, we have demonstrated that strong complexation of Cu(II) ions with PEI significantly affects the in situ formation of Cu(II) ferrocyanide nanosorbents leading to their inefficiency for Cs+ ions selective uptake, whereas PAA cryogel was applicable for the fabrication of efficient monolith composites via the in situ formation of CuFCN or loading of ex situ formed CuFCN colloids.

The feasibility of several approaches to the fabrication of monolith composite cryogels containing transition-metal ferrocyanides for Cs+ ion uptake has been evaluated. Although in the series of investigated metal ion precursors (Cu(II), Zn(II), Ni(II), and Co(II)), in situ formation of the sorption active phase in polyethyleneimine (PEI) cryogel was feasible only in the case of Zn(II) ferrocyanide, this approach has shown significant advantages over the immobilization of ex situ synthesized ferrocyanide nanoparticles. Nanoparticles of the mixed ferrocyanide Zn1.85K0.33[Fe(CN)6] formed in situ had an average size of 516 ± 146 nm and were homogeneously distributed in the monolith located at the polymer surface rather than embedded in the matrix. The Young modulus of the PEI cryogel increased after modification from 25 to 57 kPa, but composites maintained high permeability to the flow. Sorption of Cs+ ions has been investigated at superficial velocity up to 8 m/h. Steep breakthrough profiles and uptake efficiency of >99.5% until breakthrough point confirmed that a supermacroporous structure of the monolith composite assured good mass transfer, so that intraparticle diffusion was not the limiting stage of sorption kinetics. Application of the rate-constant distribution model (RCD model) to analyze the breakthrough curves of Cs+ sorption allowed the identification of two types of sorption sites with a difference in sorption rate constants of ~1 log unit. Most likely, sorption on “fast” sorption sites was governed by ion exchange between Cs+ ions in solution and K+ ions in the ferrocyanide lattice. Cs-137 radionuclide removal was investigated using the monolith composite columns of various geometries at superficial velocity up to the 6.6 m/h; specific gamma activity was reduced from 265 kBq/L to the background level, showing high potential of these materials for POU application.

Here, we have demonstrated that the recently developed extended rate constant distribution (RCD) model for sorption on heterogeneous sorbents can be applied to predict the column behavior of the sorbents using parameters determined from the sorption kinetics in batch. The suggested approach has been validated on the batch and fixed-bed experimental data of Cu­(II), Cd­(II), and Zn­(II) ion sorption on a polyethyleneimine (PEI) cryogel. Although the average sorption rate constants decreased in the order Cu­(II) > Zn­(II) > Cd­(II), “fast” and “slow” sorption centers with different affinities have been identified for all investigated ions. This explained why, depending on the experimental conditions (flow rate and metal ion concentrations), one or another ion from the mixture can adsorb preferentially on PEI in fixed-bed applications, while at long equilibration time, the ratio between adsorbed metal ions was determined by the sorbent affinity. We have also shown that sorption rate constants for the PEI cryogel determined from the batch data were ∼0.6 log units lower than those determined from fixed-bed experiments that proved higher sorption efficiency for this type of sorbent under dynamic conditions. The column efficiency coefficient introduced to the RCD model for the fixed-bed application allowed us to reveal intrinsic and operational defects in soft monolith sorbents materials, which originated from imperfection of fabrication or destruction of the porous structure at high flow rates, respectively.

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