Separation of Uranium from Rare Earth Elements using Modified Polymeric Resin

Emad H. Borai ； Mahmoud G. Hamed

《International Journal of Material and Mechanical Engineering》 5卷 (2016/02) Pp. 19-27

https://doi.org/10.14355/ijmme.2016.05.003

摘要

Poly (Acrylamide‐ Maleic Acid‐ Amidoxime) P (AM‐MA‐AO) resin has been successfully prepared by modification of polymeric resin Poly (Acrylamide‐ Maleic Acid‐ Acrylonitrile) prepared by γ radiation grafting polymerization. Conversion of nitrile groups into the amidoxime was carried out by treatment of the polymer with hydroxylamine in alkaline solution. Identification of amidoxime group was qualitatively performed. The structure of the modified resin was confirmed using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The modified polymer was tested for separation of U^(4+) from some selected rare earth elements (REEs) such as La^(3+) and Eu^(3+) metal ions from aqueous solutions. U^(4+) ion was selected to represent the actinides while La^(3+) and Eu^(3+) were selected to represent the light and intermediate REEs respectively. Different key parameters such as contact time, pH, and initial metal ion concentration have been tested to optimize the sorption capacity as well as the separation efficiency of U^(4+) metal ions. Results demonstrated that the new prepared sorbent has higher sorption uptake for U^(4+) than that for La^(3+), Eu^(3+). The results also revealed that the new P(AM- MA‐ AO) resin has relatively high selectivity and high capacity for U^(4+) reaching to 123 mg/g at pH 5. The separation factor of the resin for U^(4+) between La^(3+) and Eu^(3+) being maximum at pH 5, reaching to 34.5 and 21.9 respectively.

關鍵字

Gamma Radiation ； Polymerization ； Separation ； Lanthanides ； Uranium