Synthesis and characterization of ion-imprinted resin for selective removal of UO2(II) ions from aqueous medium

Antimicrobial ion-imprinted chitosan-derived hydrogel with quaternary ammonium and thermoresponsive components for UO22+ adsorption

Uranium recovery from wastewater or seawater is important for both pollution control and uranium supply. Due to the complexity of the water body, it requires that the adsorbent should not only be highly efficient for selective adsorption but also have good antimicrobial properties. In this study, an antimicrobial thermosensitive hydrogel (UITAC) for uranium adsorption was prepared by one-step ion-imprinted polymerization using chitosan as a substrate and allyl trimethylammonium chloride as the antimicrobial modifier. UITAC showed excellent antibacterial rate against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, being 98.8 % and 89.1 %, respectively. Endothermic and exothermic peaks respectively showed up at 36.3-38.5 °C and 30.5-34.1 °C in the DSC curves. UITAC quickly achieved its adsorption equilibrium in 30.0 min at 50 °C, pH 5.0 in the 0.8 mg/mL UO22+ solution, with an adsorption capacity of 81.2 mg/g. The adsorption capacity could remain at 80 % after 5 cycles of repeated use. UITAC showed better adsorption selectivity to UO22+ than vanadium and other metal ions, with selectivity coefficients α(UO22+/Mn+) being 1.4-10.3. The pseudo-second-order kinetics and Langmuir adsorption model had a better fit for UO22+ adsorption by UITAC. The adsorption was a spontaneous process. The Gibbs Free Energy change, enthalpy change, and entropy change at 323.2 K were - 16.0 kJ/mol, 64.3 kJ/mol, and 248.4 J/mol·K, respectively. UITAC showed high potential in practical application environment.

Construction of amino-thiol functionalized ion-imprinted chitosan for lead (II) ion removal

Ion-imprinting technique was used to create a lead ion-imprinted sorbent from an amino-thiol chitosan derivative (Pb-ATCS). First, 3-Nitro-4-sulfanylbenzoic acid (NSB) unit's amidized the chitosan, and then the -NO₂-residues were selectively reduced to -NH₂. Imprinting was accomplished by cross-linking with epichlorohydrin and removing the Pb (II) ions from the across-linked polymeric complex formed from the amino-thiol chitosan polymer ligand (ATCS) and Pb (II) ions. The synthetic steps have been investigated by nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and the sorbent was tested for its ability to selectively bind Pb (II) ions. The produced Pb-ATCS sorbent had a maximum capacity of roughly 300 mg/g, and it showed a greater affinity for the Pb (II) ions than the control NI-ATCS sorbent particle. The pseudo-2nd-order equation was also consistent with the adsorption kinetics of the sorbent, which were quite rapid. This demonstrated that metal ions were chemo-adsorbed onto the Pb-ATCS and NI-ATCS solid surfaces via coordination with the introduced amino-thiol moieties.

A chitosan-based composite for adsorption of uranyl ions; mechanism, isothems, kinetics and thermodynamics

The present paper describes a green and cost-effective approach to investigate chitosan-sepiolite (Ch-Sep) composite as an adsorbent for removal of UO₂²⁺ ions in aqueous solution. The Ch-Sep composite was prepared as a beads using with two cross-linking agents: tripolyphosphate (TPP) and epichlorohydrin (ECH). Their adsorption properties for the removal of UO₂²⁺ ions in aqueous solution by batch experimental conditions were studied. The adsorptive removal processes of UO₂²⁺ ions from aqueous solution were evaluated by Langmuir, Freundlich and Dubinin-Radushkevich isotherm models, and was found to be perfectly fit to the Langmuir model (R² = 0.971). The maximum adsorption capacity was 0.220 mol kg^-1 at 25 °C from Langmuir isotherm model. Adsorption energy was 12.1 kJ mol^-1 indicating that the adsorption process was chemical. The adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo second order and intra particle diffusion models. The thermodynamics parameters of UO₂²⁺ ions removal from aqueous solution was confirmed spontaneous, endothermic and possible at higher temperatures behavior of adsorption process. The adsorption mechanism of UO₂²⁺ ions onto Ch-Sep composite beads was investigated by FT-IR and SEM analysis. These findings revealed the effectiveness and potential of the newly synthesized Ch-Sep composite beads for the removal of UO₂²⁺ ions.