Felix Sunday Nworie - Department of Industrial Chemistry, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria
Chinedu Nwali - Department of Industrial Chemistry, Ebonyi State University, Abakaliki, Nigeria

In this study, solvent extraction technique combined with response surface methodology (RSM) applying Box-Behnken design was applied to study the uptake of metal ions from aqueous solutions using H۲BMPDE. The extractions were monitored based on the process variables of time, temperature and concentration of hydrochloric acid, metal ions and H۲BMPDE. The metal ions binding properties of H۲BMPDE optimized using RSM models for all the metal ions indicated estimated extraction percentage of ˃۹۹%. The predicted and experimental values under the same conditions, showed less than ۵% difference thereby making the Box- Behnken design approach an efficient, effective and reliable method for the uptake of metal ions from aqueous solution with H۲BMPDE by solvent extraction technique. The novel Schiff base (H۲BMPDE) synthesized was characterized using common physicochemical techniques of UV-vis, FT-IR, elemental analysis, GC-MS and NMR spectral data. The result obtained indicated that the process could be applied in the removal of metal ions from environmental samples such as soil, industrial waste water and acid mine sites.

Metal ions, Schiff base, RSM, Solvent extraction