In the current work, carboxy methyl starch graft copolymerized with acrylamide (CMS-g-PAAm) and CMS-g-PAAm silver nanoparticles composite (CMS-g-PAAm-AgNPs) prepared in previous works were used as novel absorbents for the removal of Cu2+, Co2+, Ni2+ ions and methylene blue dye from their aqueous solutions. Reaction kinetics and % removal of the metal ions and methylene blue using CMS-g-PAAm and CMS-g-PAAm-AgNPs were studied. Metal ions and methylene blue removal were determined by measuring the absorbance of the colored solution of Cu2+, Co2+, Ni2+ ions and methylene blue dye before and after treatment with CMS-g-PAAm and CMS-g-PAAm-AgNPs using spectrophotometer.
Results showed that the % removal of Cu++, Co++, and Ni++ is very high at the first 30 min then slowly increased. The % removal of ion for Cu++, Co++, and Ni++ reached up to 81.2%, 79.88, 77.97 respectively. Study also showed that the % of methylene blue removal using both CMS-g-PAAm-AgNPs and CMS-g-PAAm reached up to 99.7 and 99.33% respectively. The novel absorbents were found promising for use in waste-water treatments applications.