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Title: Extracting Uranium from Seawater: Promising AI Series Adsorbents

Journal Article · · Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research
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A new series of adsorbents (AI10 through AI17) were successfully developed at ORNL by radiation induced graft polymerization (RIGP) of acrylonitrile (AN) and vinylphosphonic acid (VPA) (at different mole to mole ratios) onto high surface area polyethylene fiber, with high degrees of grafting (DOG) varying from 110 to 300%. The grafted nitrile groups were converted to amidoxime groups by reaction with 5 wt % hydroxylamine at 80 °C for 72 h. The amidoximated adsorbents were then conditioned with 0.44 M KOH at 80 °C followed by screening at ORNL with prescreening brine spiked with 8 ppm uranium. Uranium adsorption capacities in prescreening ranged from 171 to 187 g-U/kg-ads irrespective of percent DOG. The performance of the adsorbents with respect to uranium adsorption in natural seawater was also investigated using flow-throughcolumn testing at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Three hours of KOH conditioning led to higher uranium uptake than 1 h of conditioning. The adsorbent AI11, containing AN and VPA at the mole ratio of 3.52, emerged as the potential candidate for the highest uranium adsorption (3.35 g-U/kg-ads.) after 56 days of exposure in seawater flow-through-columns. The rate of vanadium adsorption over uranium linearly increased throughout the 56 days of exposure. The total mass of vanadium uptake was ~5 times greater than uranium after 56 days.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1327098
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-120256; AF5855000
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

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Photoinduced Multiple Effects to Enhance Uranium Extraction from Natural Seawater by Black Phosphorus Nanosheets journal December 2019
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Tetrahydrosalen Uranyl(VI) Complexes: Crystal Structures and Solution Binding Study: Tetrahydrosalen Uranyl(VI) Complexes: Crystal Structures and Solution Binding Study journal March 2018
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Amidoxime Polymers for Uranium Adsorption: Influence of Comonomers and Temperature journal November 2017
A Marine‐Inspired Hybrid Sponge for Highly Efficient Uranium Extraction from Seawater journal May 2019
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