Recovery of uranium using epoxy-modified phosphorus pentasulfide as an efficient adsorbent for uranium extraction from aquatic environments

Abstract

Epoxy-modified phosphorus pentasulfide (EPMPS) formulation was developed for the supported recovery of uranium from aquatic environments. The selected components of the prepared formulation were tailored to produce a rigid foamed polymeric material that was rich in phosphorus, nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen atoms, thus increasing chelating bonding possibilities with uranium. FT-IR and SEM were applied to physically characterize the resulting sorbent. At an equilibrium time of 30 min, the phase ratio S/L of 1 g L⁻¹, pH 3 and initial uranium concentration of 50 mg L⁻¹ yielded an adsorption efficiency for uranium of 90%. An 85% elution of uranium from loaded EPMPS was achieved with 1 h shaking and a phase ratio (S/A) of 0.5 g/25 mL of 0.1 M CH₃COONa. Sorption isotherm designs were exploited to analyze the findings from the experiments. Uranium had an adsorption capability of about 78.7 mg g⁻¹. According to the results of uranium adsorption, when applied to an actual sample, EPMPS is a suitable substrate for uranium adsorption from nitrate media.