A titanium
phosphate sorbent with linked active units (LTP) is
synthesized. XRD, 31P MAS NMR, and TGA techniques are used
to disclose the relation between the ion-exchange units of −HPO4 (crystalline α-TiP) and of −H2PO4 (amorphous TiP1) type. The reported kinetics data of TiP1
sorbent in batch mode have been reprocessed according to the nonlinear
approach in order to explore further the sorption mechanism. It was
found that the data could be well described by the pseudo-second-order
model in the case of Ni2+ ions. Consequently, fixed-bed
column sorption experiments of Ni2+ ions on LTP were designed,
and the effects of both the amount of nickel(II) ions in the feed
solution and the flow rates on the sorption equilibrium were studied.
The ion-exchange capacity is estimated to be 1.6 meq·g–1 during the first four cycles before decreasing to
1.2 meq·g–1 for cycles five and
six. The experimental data were simulated following the Thomas model,
and desorption experiments with HCl were performed. Observations show
that regeneration and reutilization of the LTP ion-exchanger are possible
through at least six cycles. It is revealed that the sorption performances
in column conditions could be undoubtedly predicted from the corresponding
batch sorption data.