Tannery industries are one of the extensive industrial activities which are the major source of chromium contamination in the environment. Chromium contamination has been an increasing threat to the environment and human health. Therefore, the removal of chromium ions is necessary to save human society. This study is oriented toward the preparation of a new triazole Schiff base derivatives for the remediation of chromium ions. 4,4′-((1E)-1,2-bis ((1H-1,2,4-triazol-3-yl) imino)ethane-1,2-diyl) diphenol was prepared by the interaction between 3-Amino-1H-1,2,4-triazole and 4,4′-Dihydroxybenzil. Then, the produced Schiff base underwent a phosphorylation reaction to produce the adsorbent (TIHP), which confirmed its structure via the different tools FTIR, TGA, ¹HNMR, ¹³CNMR, GC-MS, and Phosphorus-31 nuclear magnetic resonance (³¹P-NMR). The newly synthesized adsorbent (TIHP) was used to remove chromium oxyanions (Cr(VI)) from an aqueous solution. The batch technique was used to test many controlling factors, including the pH of the working aqueous solution, the amount of adsorbent dose, the initial concentration of Cr(VI), the interaction time, and the temperature. The desorption behaviour of Cr(VI) changes when it is exposed to the suggested foreign ions. The maximum adsorption capacity for Cr(VI) adsorption on the new adsorbent was 307.07 mg/g at room temperature. Freundlich’s isotherm model fits the adsorption isotherms perfectly. The kinetic results were well-constrained by the pseudo-second-order equation. The thermodynamic studies establish that the adsorption type was exothermic and naturally spontaneous.

The treatment of rare earths sulfate liquor contaminated with traces of uranium as radioactive contaminates utilizing lewatit mono plus M500 was studied. Adsorption behavior was studied by batch experiments to determine the optimum conditions for uranium removal. The obtained equilibrium data were found to be satisfactory fitted with Langmuir isotherm and the second order rate equation. Also, elution process was achieved by 2M NaCl/1M HCl solution and the reuse of sorbent remains appreciable. A marketable pure product of rare earth oxide was prepared in addition to pure sodium diuranate containing total uranium content of the starting REEs cake.

A newly synthesized partially phosphorylated polyvinyl phosphate derivative (PPVP) was functionalized to extract Zirconium (IV) from Egyptian zircon sand. The specifications for the PPVP composite were approved effectively via different techniques, namely, FT-IR, XPS, BET, EDX, TGA, ¹H-NMR, ¹³C-NMR, GC-MS, XRD and ICP-OES analyses, which demonstrated a satisfactory synthesis of PPVP and zircon dissolution from Egyptian zircon sand. Factors controlling parameters, such as pH values, shaking time, initial zirconium concentration, PPVP dose, nitrate ions concentration, co-ions, temperature and eluting agents, have been optimized. At 25 °C, pH 0, 20 min shaking, 0.05 mol/L zirconium ions and 0.5 mol/L nitrate ions, PPVP has an exciting preservation potential of 195 mg/g, equivalent to 390 mg/L zirconium ions. From the extraction–distribution isotherm, the practical outcomes of Langmuir’s modeling are better than the Freundlich model. With a theoretical value of 196.07 mg/g, which is more in line with the experimental results of 195 mg/g. The zirconium ions adsorption onto the PPVP composite follows the pseudo-second-order kinetics with a theoretical capacity value of 204.08 mg/g. According to thermodynamic potential, the extraction process was expected to be an exothermic, spontaneous and beneficial extraction at low temperatures. The thermodynamic parameters ΔS (−0.03 kJ/mol), ΔH (−12.22 kJ/mol) and ΔG were also considered. As the temperature grows, ∆G values increase from −2.948 kJ/mol at 298 K to −1.941 kJ/mol at 338 K. Zirconium ions may be eluted from the working loaded PPVP by 0.025M HNO₃, with a 99% efficiency rate. It was found that zirconium ions revealed good separation factors towards some co-ions such as Hf⁴⁺ (28.82), Fe³⁺ (10.64), Ti⁴⁺ (28.82), V⁵⁺ (86.46) and U⁶⁺ (68.17). A successful alkali fusion technique with NaOH flux followed by the extraction with PPVP is used to obtain a high-purity zirconia concentrate with a zircon content of 72.77 % and a purity of 98.29%. As a result of this, the improved factors could finally be used.