Polymers contamination by heavy metal compounds

Abstract

The contamination of important synthetic (surface unmodified) polymers by various heavy metal compounds (such as copper, manganese and lead) in aqueous medium was investigated in this study. The influence of the pH of the aqueous medium, temperature and metal type on contamination was investigated during a 10 day period. It was found that increasing pH contributed to higher polymer contamination (at higher pH 100 times for copper and up to 400 times for lead), as well as contact with easily penetrable substances. Increasing temperature decreased contamination by the metal compound for PELD and PET which was not the case for PEHD and PR.

U radu je praćena kontaminacija najznačajnijih sintetskih (površinski nemodifikovanih) polimera teškim metalima (prevashodno bakrom, manganom i olovom) u vodenoj sredini. Praćen je uticaj više faktora (pH vrednost rastvora, temperatura i tip metala) tokom perioda od 10 dana. Utvrđeno je da porast pH vrednosti uzrokuje porast kontaminacije metalima (kod bakra 100 a kod olova i do 400 puta), kao i kontakt polimera sa supstancama koje lakše prodiru u polimer od vode. Zapaženo je smanjenje kontaminacije teškim metalima samo kod polletllena niske gustine (PENG) i poli(etilen tereftalata) (PET) usled rasta temperature, a ne i kod polietilena visoke gustine (PEVG) i polipropilena (PP).