Incorporation of multi-walled carbon nanotubes in microspheres used as anion exchange resin via suspension polymerization

Amination of vinylbenzyl chloride-divinylbenzene (VBC-DVB) copolymers is an effective method for preparation of anion-exchange resins. Conventionally, the starting polymer is produced by chloromethylation of a styrene–divinylbenzene copolymer that utilizes chloromethyl methyl ether, a known carcinogen. An alterative approach is to copolymerize vinylbenzyl chloride with divinylbenzene to generate the necessary VBC-DVB. This method provides precise control over the density of the ion-exchange groups. The regiochemistry of the vinylbenzyl chloride methods was realized using solvent-ion exchange groups. These resulting anion-exchange polymers were characterized by a variety of techniques such as analytical titrations, transform infrared spectroscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis. Testing of these copolymers for breakthrough was performed. The results indicate that these anion exchangers have a meaningful increase in thermal stability over commercial anionic exchange beads. Resins containing MWCNTs achieved anion exchange capacity value of 323.6 meq/100 g over than that of copolymer resins and that useful in water desalination or treatment.