Innovative Solutions for Water Treatment: Unveiling the Potential of Polyoxazoline Polymer Activated Carbon Composite for Efficient Elimination of Lead Ions

Heavy metal pollution is a global problem that necessitates the development of innovative and environmentally friendly water treatment technologies. Polyoxazoline polymers, known for their biocompatibility, are explored for lead ion removal in water treatment. Poly 2-Methoxycarbonylpropyl-2-oxazoline is integrated into activated carbon via in situ polymer growth, optimizing loading through live polymerization. This study investigates intricate interactions between lead ions and functional groups, such as amide moieties and ester functionalities, in the resulting polyoxazoline-modified activated carbon composite (POZ-AC). This pioneering research opens avenues for the application of polyoxazoline polymers in water treatment, leveraging their established success in biomedical fields. The removal of lead ions by POZ-ACs followed the Langmuir isotherm and pseudo-second-order kinetic model. The results showed that POZ-AC-20 had excellent adsorption capacity of 365 mg/g, achieved in a relatively short time of 37 min. Furthermore, the adsorbent maintained its performance for seven cycles, demonstrating its high reusability potential. However, the adsorption performance of POZ-ACs after seven adsorption–desorption cycles was gradually decreased due to polymer release into the water media because of the high degree of solubility of polyoxazoline polymers in water. This study provides critical insight into the potential use of polyoxazoline polymers, demonstrating their superior potential in water treatment applications, particularly since it is the first time these polymers have been explored for this purpose. Future research should focus on developing polyoxazoline polymers with less solubility in water while maintaining a high removal performance.