Characterization and Testing of Amidoxime-Based Adsorbent Materials to Extract Uranium from Natural Seawater

Abstract

Extraction of uranium (U) from seawater for use as a nuclear fuel is a significant challenge due to the low concentration of U in seawater (∼3.3 ppb) and difficulties to selectively extract U from the background of major and trace elements in seawater. The Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL)’s Marine Sciences Laboratory (MSL) has been serving as a marine test site for determining performance characteristics (adsorption capacity, adsorption kinetics, and selectivity) of novel amidoxime-based polymeric adsorbents developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) under natural seawater exposure conditions. This manuscript describes the performance of three formulations (38H, AF1, AI8) of amidoxime-based polymeric adsorbents produced at ORNL in MSL’s ambient seawater testing facility. The adsorbents were produced in two forms, fibrous material (40–100 mg samples) and braided material (5–10 g samples), and exposed to natural seawater using flow-through columns and recirculating flumes. All three formu...