The Comparison of the Efficiency of two Ion-Exchange Resins In Filtering Chromium-6 From Water

Overview

Jessica Murray Chromium-6 is a highly carcinogenic metal that is commonly used in industrial processes to make textile dyes, anti- corrosion products, paints, and steel. The accumulation of Chromium-6 waste has increased the risk for numerous digestive and respiratory cancers as well as developmental disorders. This cancer-causing metal is found above health guidelines throughout the United States in utilities that serve a total of 232 million people. In recent years, scientists have discovered that Chromium-6 can be effectively removed through a reverse osmosis process and an ion-exchange process. The purpose of my project was to expand upon this knowledge, and determine whether a mixed bead resin or a pre-swollen, microgranular cation resin would be more effective in removing Chromium-6 from water. Since Chromium-6 is a positively charged metal, I hypothesized that the cation resin, containing solely negatively charged ions, would be more effective. Throughout my experiment, I ran 5ml of my Chromium-6 stock solution through each resin using column-chromatography tubes. Afterward, I dyed each filtered solution, adjusted their pH and tested their absorbance in a UV-visible spectrophotometer. My results showed that the mixed-bead resin had 100% filtration efficiency, while the cation resin was only capable of filtering approximately 50% of Chromium-6. In the future, I believe that ion-exchange filtration methods using mixed bed resins will be very useful in filtering out harmful compounds such as Chromium-6 from water. This implementation will make tap water safer to drink and potentially lower the risk of digestive cancers as well as reproductive and developmental complications within the American population.

Competition history

• JSHS 2020 Category not listed

Resources

• National JSHS abstract book ↗

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