PNNL

Abstract

Acrylic fiber can be chemically converted to an am- idoxime and carboxylate containing chelating adsorbent for extraction of uranium from seawater. At an optimized ratio of amidoxime:carboxylate, the chelating fiber in real seawater shows a higher uranium, shorter saturation time and lower vanadium adsorption capacity relative to similar high-surface area chelating fibers developed recently using a radiation-induced grafting method. This simple and low-cost synthesis method can be scaled up to mass produce the chelating fiber for recovering metals from aquatic environments including production of uranium from seawater.