Recovery of Uranium from Seawater

Abstract

Seawater contains various elements in solution. Deuterium, lithium, and uranium are the important ingredients for energy application at present and in the future. This paper deals with the recovery of uranium from seawater, with emphasis on the development of an adsorbent with high selectivity and rate of adsorption for uranium.

Polyacrylamidoxime chelating resins were synthesized from various co-polymers of acrylonitrile and cross-linking agents. The resulting resins with the chelating amidoxime group showed selective adsorption for uranium in seawater. The amount of uranium adsorbed from seawater at room temperature reached 3.2 mg/g resin after 180 days.

Polyacrylamidoxime fiber, which was prepared from polyacrylo-nitrile fiber and hydroxylamine, showed a high rate of adsorption for uranium. The polyacrylamidoxime fiber conditioned with 1 M HCl and 1 M NaOH adsorbed 4 mg U/g fiber from seawater in ten days.