Uranium Removal from Seawater by Means of Polyamide 6 Fibers Directly Grafted with Diallyl Oxalate through a Single-Step, Solvent-Free Irradiation Process

Journal Article · Fri Dec 04 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.iecr.5b03401· OSTI ID:1467454

Dietz, Travis C. ^[1]; Tomaszewski, Claire E. ^[1]; Tsinas, Zois ^[2]; Poster, Dianne ^[3]; Barkatt, Aaron ^[4]; Adel-Hadadi, Mohammad ^[4]; Bateman, Fred B. ^[3]; Cumberland, Lonnie T. ^[3]; Schneider, Erich ^[5]; Gaskell, Karen ^[6]; LaVerne, Jay ^[7]; Al-Sheikhly, Mohamad ^[1]

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1. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
2. Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States). Dept. of Bioengineering
3. National Inst. of Standards and Technology (NIST), Gaithersburg, MD (United States)
4. The Catholic Univ., Washington, DC (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
5. Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States). Dept. of Nuclear & Radiation Engineering
6. Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States). Dept. of Chemistry
7. Univ. of Notre Dame, IN (United States). Dept. of Physics

In order to test the effectiveness of oxalate-based polymeric adsorbents in the recovery of uranium from seawater, diallyl oxalate (DAOx) was grafted onto nylon 6 fabrics by exposing the fabric, immersed in pure liquid DAOx or in a surfactant-stabilized dispersion of DAOx in water, to electron beam or gamma radiation. Following drying and weighing to determine the degree of grafting (DoG), the presence of oxalate in the fabrics was verified using XPS. Zeta potential measurements showed the fabric surfaces to be negatively charged. The fabrics were tested by rotating them for 7 days in a rotary agitator with actual seawater spiked with 0.2 or 1.0 mg∙L^-1 uranium. The fraction of uranium in the solution which was removed due to uptake on the fabrics was found to rise with increasing DoG at both uranium concentrations. EDS measurements were used to map the distribution of adsorbed uranium on the polymeric fibers.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Maryland, College Park, MD (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
• Grant/Contract Number: NE0000723
• OSTI ID: 1467454
• Journal Information: Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research, Vol. 55, Issue 15; ISSN 0888-5885
• Publisher: American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
Single-step radiation graft polymerization
uranium extraction
seawater
nylon
acrylated oxalate