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Title: Fiber-based adsorbents having high adsorption capacities for recovering dissolved metals and methods thereof

Patent ·
OSTI ID:1131019

A fiber-based adsorbent and a related method of manufacture are provided. The fiber-based adsorbent includes polymer fibers with grafted side chains and an increased surface area per unit weight over known fibers to increase the adsorption of dissolved metals, for example uranium, from aqueous solutions. The polymer fibers include a circular morphology in some embodiments, having a mean diameter of less than 15 microns, optionally less than about 1 micron. In other embodiments, the polymer fibers include a non-circular morphology, optionally defining multiple gear-shaped, winged-shaped or lobe-shaped projections along the length of the polymer fibers. A method for forming the fiber-based adsorbents includes irradiating high surface area polymer fibers, grafting with polymerizable reactive monomers, reacting the grafted fibers with hydroxylamine, and conditioning with an alkaline solution. High surface area fiber-based adsorbents formed according to the present method demonstrated a significantly improved uranium adsorption capacity per unit weight over existing adsorbents.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-00OR22725
Assignee:
UT-Battelle, LLC (Oak Ridge, TN)
Patent Number(s):
8,722,757
Application Number:
13/553,288
OSTI ID:
1131019
Resource Relation:
Patent File Date: 2012 Jul 19
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (1)

Chromatography media and method patent May 2015