The adsorption isotherms of the polysulfone hollow fiber chelating membrane modified with thiourea as chelating groups for Hg2+ were determined. The effects of mobile phase conditions and the operating parameters on removal performance of the chelating membrane for Hg2+ were also investigated. The recovery of Hg2+ decreased at low pH and the optimum range of pH was from 6 to 7. The feed concentration effected on recovery of Hg2+ at the specified loading amount of Hg2+. The Hg2+ could be removed from different concentration feed solution by chelating membrane. The increase of feed flow rate led to slight decrease of recovery of Hg2+ at the specified loading amount of Hg2+. The chelating membrane could be operated at height feed flow rate and a large-scale removal of Hg2+ could be realized. With the increase of load amount, Hg2+ recovery decreased, but the saturation degree of chelating membrane increased. According to required recovery of Hg2+ and the saturation degree of chelating membrane, the optimum loading amount of Hg2+ should be selected in the actual removal of Hg2+.
