Abstract
Ion exchange materials based on zirconium phosphate were synthesized by mixing zirconyl chloride (0.5 M) with 1 N phosphoric acid with or without addition of poly(vinylpyrrolidone). The physicochemical properties of this materials were determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and infrared (IR) spectroscopy, and distribution behavior was also studied to understand the cation-exchange behavior of the two samples. Sorption studies showed that the cation-exchanger has high selectivity to Pb(II) in comparison to other metal ions. Its selectivity was examined in binary separations. The thermodynamic parameters such as Delta G*, Delta S*, and Delta H* were calculated from the data on the adsorption of Pb(II), Cu(II), and Fe(II) on the studied samples.