APPLICATION OF POLY (SODIUM ASPARTATE) SYNTHESISED UNDER MICROWAVE RADIATION IN WATER SOFTENING

Abstract

Hard water used in households and industrial plants generates many problems due to calcium and magnesium ions abundance. Their presence leads to scale formation in water pipes and all elements that contact with water. Therefore pipes clogging and damage of an equipment can appear. Bivalent ions can be eliminated by various methods. The most popular include chemical precipitation, ion-exchange resin or zeolite treatment and different electro membrane systems. Unfortunately, they have one major disadvantage – high price and very often are difficult to apply. Novel materials for metal ions adsorption should be not only cheap and effective but also environmentally friendly. Therefore new synthesis methods must be developed which would meet Green Chemistry principles. Poly (succinimide) and its derivatives are known of being not only non-toxic but also easily biodegradable and are capable of ion chelation. Sodium salts of poly (aspartic acid) possess ability of binding calcium and magnesium ions thanks to the carboxylic group presence in their structure. They can be easily obtained via PSI basic hydrolysis. In this paper a novel microwave-assisted poly (succinimide) synthesis method is proposed. Moreover, chelating capability of poly (sodium aspartate) was investigated by two different methods and chelating capacity was determined.