Adsorptive removal of uranium(vi) from wastewater using a crosslinked amidoxime-functionalized β-cyclodextrin polymer

In this work, a crosslinked amidoxime-functionalized beta-cyclodextrin polymer (beta-CDP-AO) was synthesized, characterized, and applied to adsorptive removal of U(vi) from wastewater. beta-Cyclodextrin polymer (beta-CDP) was firstly synthesized by using beta-cyclodextrin as the monomer and tetrafluorophenonitrile as the crosslinking agent. And then beta-CDP-AO was prepared by reaction with hydroxylamine hydrochloride using triethylamine as an attractant to introduce amidoxime groups. The prepared polymers were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive spectrometry, infrared spectroscopy, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and so on, and the results demonstrated that beta-CDP-AO was successfully obtained. The results of batch adsorption experiments showed that beta-CDP-AO had better adsorption capacity and removal efficiency than beta-CDP, although the specific surface area of the polymer was significantly reduced after amidoximation. The introduction of amidoxime groups can enhance the adsorption performance and accelerate the U(vi) adsorption process significantly. The obtained amidoxime-functionalized beta-CDP-AO can achieve equilibrium in 120 min and the maximum adsorption capacity for U(vi) was 221.54 mg g(-1) at pH = 6.0. Meanwhile, the adsorption process conformed to a pseudo-second-order kinetics model and Langmuir model, indicating that the chemisorption of the monolayer was dominant, and the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic. More importantly, the removal efficiency of beta-CDP-AO to U(vi) was only 4% lower after 5 cycles of regeneration, which can effectively reduce costs in practical applications, and the removal efficiency still achieved 83.26% by adding 7 coexisting ions, indicating that beta-CDP-AO had good selectivity to absorb U(vi) in complex wastewater. And the possible mechanism of uranium adsorption by beta-CDP-AO was investigated by XPS methods. Results showed that the absorption process was a comprehensive outcome of the synergistic action of cyclodextrin and amidoxime.

Automated summary

In this study, a crosslinked amidoxime-functionalized beta-cyclodextrin polymer was synthesized and successfully applied to adsorptive removal of U(vi) from wastewater. The polymer exhibited good adsorption capacity, removal efficiency, and regeneration ability. It also showed good selectivity for U(vi) in complex wastewater.