Separation of lead and copper on a series of chelating ion-exchange resins. Part I

The physico-chemical and chelating properties of aromatic poly(hydroxamic acid) ion-exchange resins are described. The resins are used for the quantitative separation of the heavy metals lead and copper, which are often present in industrial effluents. These resins show excellent kinetic characteristics for copper and lead ions. The effect of metal concentration on the cation-exchange capacity is also reported. Even after 20 loading-acid washing cycles the resins show greater stability than the hydroxamic acid resins reported earlier. Quantitative separation of the two metals is achieved by using different eluting reagents.