Abstract
The need to secure future supplies of energy attracts researchers in several countries to a vast resource of nuclear energy fuel: uranium in seawater (estimated at 4.5 billion tons in seawater). In this study, we developed effective adsorbent fibers for the recovery of uranium from seawater via atom-transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) from a poly-(vinyl chloride)-co-chlorinated poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC-co-CPVC) fiber. ATRP was employed in the surface graft polymerization of acrylonitrile (AN) and tert-butyl acrylate (tBA), precursors for uranium-interacting functional groups, from PVC-co-CPVC fiber. The [tBA]/[AN] was systematically varied to identify the optimal ratio between hydrophilic groups (from tBA) and uranyl-binding ligands (from AN). The best performing adsorbent fiber, the one with the optimal [tBA]/[AN] ratio and a high degree of grafting (1390%), demonstrated uranium adsorption capacities that are significantly greater than those of the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) reference fiber in natural seawater tests (2.42-3.24 g/kg in 42 days of seawater exposure and 5.22 g/kg in 49 days of seawater exposure, versus 1.66 g/kg in 42 days of seawater exposure and 1.71 g/kg in 49 days of seawater exposure for JAEA). Adsorption of other metal ions from seawater and their corresponding kinetics were also studied. The grafting of alternative monomers for the recovery of uranium from seawater is now under development by this versatile technique of ATRP. (Figure Presented).
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 4139-4148 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Industrial and Engineering Chemistry Research |
Volume | 55 |
Issue number | 15 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Mar 11 2016 |
Funding
This research was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Nuclear Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725 with Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC. The JAEA sorbent was kindly donated for testing by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency. The PVC-co-CPVC fiber was a sample from Rhovyl fiber, courteously donated by Whitin Yarns and Fibers (Westport, MA, USA).
Funders | Funder number |
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U.S. Department of Energy | |
Office of Nuclear Energy | DE-AC05-00OR22725 |
Oak Ridge National Laboratory | |
UT-Battelle | |
Japan Atomic Energy Agency |