Diphonix® Resin: A Review of Its Properties and Applications

Abstract

The recently developed Diphonix® resin is a new multifunctional chelating ion exchange resin containing geminally substituted diphosphonic acid ligands chemically bonded to a styrene-based polymeric matrix. Diphonix can be regarded as a dual mechanism polymer, with a sulfonic acid cation exchange group allowing for rapid access, mostly non-specific, of ions into the polymeric network, and the diphosphonic acid group responsible for specificity (recognition) for a number of metal cations. The Diphonix resin exhibits an extraordinarily strong affinity for actinides, especially in the tetra- and hexavalent oxidation states. Therefore the resin has potential for applications in TRU and mixed waste treatment and characterization, and in the development of new procedures for rapid actinide preconcentration and separation from environmental samples. Metal uptake studies have been extended to alkaline earth cations, to transition and post-transition metal species, and to metal sorption from neutral or near neutral solutions. Also the kinetic behavior of the resin has been investigated in detail. In view of the above applications the influence of the most commonly occurring matrix constituents (Na, Ca, Al, Fe, hydrofluoric, sulfuric, oxalic and phosphoric acids) on the uptake of actinide ions has been measured. This review paper summarizes the most important results obtained in the studies on the properties of the Diphonix resin and gives an overview of the applications already in existence or under development in the fields of mixed waste treatment, actinide separation procedures, treatment of radwaste from nuclear power and fuel processing plants, and removal of iron from copper electrowinning solutions.