Chelating polymer granules prepared by radiation-induced homopolymerization. II. Characterizations

Characterizations of chelating polymer adsorbent granules, incorporating amidoxime groups based on polyacrylonitrile (PAN), prepared for selective adsorption of uranium and likely other transition metals were studied. PAN was prepared by radiation‐induced polymerization technique and followed by amidoximation reaction. Conversion of PAN into polyacrylamidoxime (PAO) was studied by fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). Morphology and thermal properties were also investigated. PAO was investigated in the separation of uranium from iron‐rich silicate rock samples and subjected to x‐ray fluorescence analysis (XRF). Selective adsorption for uranium and low affinity for alkali and alkaline earth metals were observed. The order of selectivity was found to be U ≫ Cu > Fe > Ni > Cr > V ≫ Ca > K. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 99: 1180–1187, 2006