Water-soluble polymers with different functionalities have
been used in various separation processes (e.g., adsorption, precipitation,
coagulation/flocculation, and membrane filtration) for the
removal of heavy metals from wastewater [7,8]. The sequestration
of metal ions from aqueous solutions by certain polymers is
primarily derived from the strong interactions between heavy
metal and the polymer [8–11]. More recently, attempts have been
made to develop a new separation technique, called polymerenhanced
ultrafiltration (PEUF), which exploits the polymer–metal
interactions and membrane filtration [12–14]. It is a promising
alternative to the traditional processes for removal and recovery
of heavy metals from wastewater because of its high efficiency
for removing the metals from wastewater at considerably low concentrations,
and sometimes it can selectively separate certain
metal species in a mixture [9]. PEUF may be applied to treating
industrial wastewaters from battery manufacturing, mining operations
and chloralkali process wastewater [15,16]. In addition, PEUF
has also shown potential uses in treating effluents from nuclear
facilities to separate and recover toxic radioactive compounds
(e.g., cesium, strontium, technetium and actinide)