Recovery of uranium from seawater V. Preparation and properties of the macroreticular chelating resins containing amidoxime and other functional groups

We have synthesized macroreticular chelating resins containing amidoxime groups from acrylonitrile (AN)-divinylbenzene (DVB)-alkyl acrylate, alkyl methacrylate, or vinylpyridine (VPy) copolymer beads. It was found that the chelating resin (RNMH)-containing amidoxime groups prepared from AN-DVB-methyl acrylate (MA) indicated the highest adsorption ability for uranium in seawater. Hydroxamic acid and carboxylic groups in addition to amidoxime groups were formed during the reaction of the copolymer beads with a methanol solution of hydroxylamine. The adsorption ability for uranium was greatly influenced by the physical pore structure (macropore) and the pore structure formed by the swelling(micropore). RNMH (RNMH10-10) prepared with 10 mol% of DVB and 10 mol% of MA had the highest adsorption ability and physical stability for uranium. On the other hand, improved adsorption ability for uranium was not observed in the case of the macroporous resins (RNPyH) prepared by the copolymerization of VPy as the basic component. After seawater was passed through the column packed with RNMH10-10 at a space velocity (SV) of 180 h^?1 (up-flow) for 10 days, the amount of uranium adsorbed on the resin was about 100 mg/dm³-R and 260 mg/kg-R.