Preparation of Amidoxime-Fiber Adsorbents Based on Poly(Methacrylonitrile) For Recovery of Uranium From Seawater

WOS: A1994MY63700005Polymerization of methacrylonitrile was performed with anionic initiators as reported in the literature. The molecular weight of the polymer produced using BuLi as initiator at 0 +/- 2-degrees-C was on the order of 10(5). Maximum conversion was 97% with BuLi initiator. For comparison, methacrylonitrile was polymerized with diethylmagnesium in dioxane at 70-degrees-C. High-molecular weight polymers with 50-60% conversions were produced by diethylmagnesium initiator. The polymethacrylonitrile obtained by BuLi initiator was used for the fiber production process. The conversion of nitrile was performed by treatment with 3% NH2OH in MeOH at 80-degrees-C. The amidoxime-fiber adsorbent gave a large adsorption rate, such as 176 mug of U/g of adsorbent/day, in a batchwise seawater adsorption test