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Adsorptive removal of U(VI) from aqueous solution by hydrothermal carbon spheres with phosphate group

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Abstract

The phosphorylated hydrothermal carbon spheres (HCS-PO4) were developed by functionalizing hydrothermal carbon spheres (HCS) with o-phosphoethanolamine, and the structure and textural property were characterized by SEM and FT-IR. The parameters that affect the uranium(VI) sorption, such as solution pH, initial U(VI) concentration, contact time, and temperature, had been investigated. The HCS-PO4 showed the highest uranium sorption capacity at initial pH 6.0 and contact time of 120 min. The adsorption kinetics was better described by the pseudo-second-order model, and the adsorption process could be well defined by the Langmuir isotherm and the maximum monolayer adsorption capacity increased from 80.00 to 434.78 mg/g after phosphorylation. The thermodynamic parameters, ∆G° (298 K), ∆H° and ∆S°, demonstrated shown that the sorption process of U(VI) onto HCS-PO4 was feasible, spontaneous and endothermic in nature. The spent HCS-PO4 could be effectively regenerated by 0.1 mol/L EDTA solution for the removal and recovery of U(VI) and reused for ten cycles at least. Selective adsorption studies showed that the HCS-PO4 could selectively remove U(VI), and the selectivity coefficients of HCS in the presence of co-existing ions, Mg(II), Na(I), Zn(II), Mn(II),Co(II), Ni(II), Sr(II), Cs(I) and Hg(II) improved after functionalization.

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Acknowledgments

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 21101024, 21201033,21301028), National Undergraduate Training Programs for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (Grant No. 201210405006), Key Project of Chinese Ministry of Education (Grant No. 211086), the Young Scientists Training Program of Jiangxi Province (Grant No. 20122BCB23023), Natural Science Foundation of Jiangxi Province (Grant Nos. 20114BAB203002, 20122BAB203012, 20132BAB203027), China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (Grant No. 20110490857), and Project of Jiangxi Provincial Department of Education (Grant No. GJJ13452) and Open Project Foundation of Fundamental Science on Radioactive Geology and Exploration Technology Laboratory (East China Institute of Technology) (Grant No. RGET1311).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fundamental Science on Radioactive Geology and Exploration Technology Laboratory, East China Institute of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, Jiangxi, China

    Yun-Hai Liu, Guo-Xuan Xiong, Xiao-Hong Cao, Min Li & Zhi-Bin Zhang

  2. State Key Laboratory Breeding Base of Nuclear Resources and Environment, East China Institute of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, Jiangxi, China

    Yun-Hai Liu, Guo-Xuan Xiong, Xiao-Hong Cao, Min Li & Zhi-Bin Zhang

  3. School of Chemistry, Biological and Materials Science, East China Institute of Technology, Nanchang, 330013, Jiangxi, China

    Xiao-Feng Yu, Yun-Hai Liu, Zhi-Wei Zhou, Guo-Xuan Xiong, Xiao-Hong Cao, Min Li & Zhi-Bin Zhang

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  1. Xiao-Feng Yu
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Yu, XF., Liu, YH., Zhou, ZW. et al. Adsorptive removal of U(VI) from aqueous solution by hydrothermal carbon spheres with phosphate group. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 300, 1235–1244 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-014-3081-6

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