Environmental Research & Technology, Vol. 4 (1), pp. 63-72, 2021 Corresponding Author: naziabaec@gmail.com (Nazia Rahman) Received 19 November 2020; Received in revised form 18 February 2021; Accepted 12 March 2021 Available Online 23 March 2021 Doi: https://doi.org/10.35208/ert.828089 © Yildiz Technical University, Environmental Engineering Department. All rights reserved. Environmental Research & Technology http://dergipark.gov.tr/ert RESEARCH ARTICLE Pre-irradiation grafting of acrylic acid and sodium styrene sulfonate on non-woven polyethylene fabric for heavy metal removal Nazia Rahman 1, * , Md. Imran Biswas 2 , Mahbub Kabir 2 , Nirmal Chandra Dafader 1 , Shahnaz Sultana 1 , Md. Nabul Sardar 1 , Farah Tasneem Ahmed 1 , Abdul Halim 1 1 Nuclear and Radiation Chemistry Division, Institute of Nuclear Science and Technology, Atomic Energy Research Establishment, Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission, G. P. O. Box-3787, Dhaka, BANGLADESH 2 Department of Chemistry, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka-1342, BANGLADESH ABSTRACT In present study acrylic acid (AAc) and sodium styrene sulfonate (SSS) were grafted onto non-woven polyethylene fabric using pre-irradiation method and the grafted adsorbent is employed for Cr(III) and Pb(II) adsorption. After irradiation of the non-woven polyethylene fabrics with 50 kGy radiation dose the grafting reaction was carried out at 80º C with monomer solution consisted of 30% AAc, 10% SSS and 4% NaCl in water. A high graft yield of 270% was achieved. Fourier Transform Infrared, Scanning Electron Microscopy and Thermo-gravimetric Analysis were used to analyze the adsorbent. Pb (II) and Cr (III) adsorption from synthetic aqueous solution was attempted by the grafted adsorbent. Adsorption study was accomplished by changing the contact time, pH and initial metal ion concentration. Contact time 48 h and initial metal concentration 1000 ppm were found optimum for all the metal ions studied. pH 6.2 and 5 was observed best for Pb (II) and Cr(III) adsorption respectively. Kinetic adsorption data fitted better with pseudo-second-order equation than pseudo-first-order. Good correlation of experimental data with Langmuir isotherm model suggested monolayer adsorption. Langmuir equation showed that the maximum adsorption capacity for Pb (II) was 38.46 mg g -1 and Cr (III) was 111.11 mg g -1 . Experiment on desorption of metal ions and reuse of the adsorbent depicted good results. Adsorbent also showed efficient adsorption of Cr(III) from real waste water. From all the findings it can be expected that the AAc-SSS grafted PE fabric can successfully eliminate Cr(III) and Pb(II) from industrial waste water. Keywords: Heavy metal, acrylic acid, sodium styrene sulfonate, adsorption, wastewater 1. INTRODUCTION Environmental contamination arise from discharge of toxic heavy metals in industrial wastewater is a severe global crisis we are experiencing these days. Environmental purity is now a days the major concern [1-2]. Heavy metals commonly generate from metal mineral treating, leather tanning, metallurgical process, glass manufacture, mining action, metal plating, and battery production etc. [3]. Compact structure and harmfulness made the heavy metals are different from other metals. Another alarming matter about heavy metal is their non- biodegradability. They are also unaffected by bacterial breakdown. Natural environment and human health suffer a humongous danger due to the presence of these heavy metals in water. Because heavy metals have tendency to form complexes with organic matters that can be fatal at little quantities too. Noxious nature of heavy metals, their perseverance in environment and bioaccumulation extremely disturbs the food sequence [4]. After entering into the food chain heavy metals can influence various harmful biochemical reactions and after certain period they can also gather inside living organisms. Therefore, eliminating heavy metals from industrial effluent before their discharge into water stream has given utmost priority in different countries recently. Harmful heavy metals that are usually inspected are Lead, Copper, Nickel, Cadmium, Mercury and Chromium. Among these, Lead and Chromium are the