Journal
JOURNAL OF NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
Volume 52, Issue 9, Pages 1151-1161Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/00223131.2014.993737
Keywords
uranium extraction; LDPE fiber; uranium recovery; radiation grafting; amidoxime functional group; chromic acid; seawater; gamma ray
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Funding
- Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT)
- Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST)
- 90th Anniversary of Chulalongkorn University Fund (Ratchadaphiseksomphot Endowment Fund)
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Enhancement of uranium extraction from seawater using chromic-acid-treated amidoxime adsorbent was studied. Chromic-acid-treated amidoxime fibers were synthesized based on the simultaneous irradiation grafting method at a low temperature. Low-density polyethylene (LDPE) fibers were treated with chromic acid for up to 90 minutes. After the treatment, the fibers were submerged in 60:40 acrylonitrile:methacrylic acid monomer by volume and irradiated with 40 kGy gamma-ray. The maximum grafting efficiency of about 90% occurred at 20 minutes of acid treatment time, as a significant enhancement of 30% compared to the literature-reported value of about 70%. When submerged in shallow seawater with an average temperature of 30 degrees C for 4 weeks, the amidoxime adsorbent exhibited the adsorption capacity of 2.06g-U/kg-adsorbent, which was 37% higher than the literature-reported value. These significantly increased grafting and adsorption efficiencies were attributed to the increased surface area of chromic-acid-etched LDPE fibers. Moreover, for the submersion up to 8 weeks, the adsorption increased to 2.15g-U/kg-adsorbent. The adsorption capacity was evaluated to reduce to about 65% after eight cycles of repeated usage. Uranium concentrations in Thailand's seawater collected at various depths and locations were analyzed using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) to be about 3 ppb everywhere.
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