Method for liquid-to-solid phase separation of uranium and uranyl contaminant from various solutions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2022072509-A1
Application number	US-202117469232-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 8, 2021
Priority date	Sep 8, 2020
Publication date	Mar 10, 2022
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for separating metal ions from a liquid includes a step of providing a solution having metal-containing ions and associated negative counter ions in a liquid. The metal-containing ions are contacted with a dendrimer to form solid particles of metal-containing ion-dendrimer complexes. The solid particles of metal-containing ion-dendrimer complexes are separated from the solution.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for separating metal ions from a liquid, the method comprising:
providing a solution having metal-containing ions and associated negative counterions; contacting the metal-containing ions with a dendrimer to form solid particles of metal-containing ion-dendrimer complexes; and separating the solid particles of metal-containing ion-dendrimer complexes from the solution.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein metal-containing ion-dendrimer complexes precipitate from the solution.

3 . The method of claim 2 , a molar ratio of metal ions to dendrimer is greater than 0.2.

4 . The method of claim 2 , a precipitate has an average particle size greater than 0.1 microns.

5 . The method of claim 1 further comprising recovering a metal or metal-containing compounds from the solid particles of metal-containing ion-dendrimer complexes.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the dendrimer is composed of a branched carbon-chain scaffold with functional groups at regular intervals.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein the dendrimer is composed of a C 2-20 alkyl-diamine core and amidoamine repeating branches.

8 . The method of claim 7 wherein the C 2-20 alkyl-diamine core is selected from the group consisting of ethylenediamine, 1,2-diaminododecane, 1,4-diaminobutane, cystamine, 1,6-diaminohexane, and combinations thereof.

9 . The method of claim 1 wherein the dendrimer is composed of a PAMAM.

10 . The method of claim 1 wherein the dendrimer is a PAMAM dendrimer selected from the group consisting of PAMAM generation 1 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 2 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 3 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 4 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 5 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 6 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 7 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 8 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 9 dendrimers, and PAMAM generation 10 dendrimers, and combinations thereof.

11 . The method of claim 1 wherein the dendrimer is a PAMAM dendrimer selected from the group consisting of PAMAM generation 2 dendrimers, and PAMAM generation 3 dendrimers.

12 . The method of claim 1 wherein the dendrimer is a PAMAM generation 2 dendrimer.

13 . The method of claim 1 wherein the metal-containing ions include a metal selected from the group consisting of alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, transition metals, lanthanides, actinides, and combinations thereof.

14 . The method of claim 1 wherein the metal-containing ions are actinyl ions.

15 . The method of claim 14 wherein the actinyl ions are selected from the group consisting of UO 2 2+ , NpO 2 2+, PuO 2 2+ , AmO 2 2+ and combinations thereof.

16 . The method of claim 14 wherein the actinyl ions are UO 2 2+ .

17 . The method of claim 1 wherein the metal-containing ions are lead ions, cadmium ions, copper ions, nickel ions, cobalt ions, chromium ions, or combinations thereof.

18 . The method of claim 1 wherein the solid particles of metal-containing ion-dendrimer complexes are separated from the solution by a solid-liquid separation technique.

19 . The method of claim 18 wherein the solid-liquid separation technique is selected from the group consisting of cyclone separation, thickening separation, filtration, and combination thereof.

20 . The method of claim 1 further comprising spectroscopic monitoring of the presence and/or concentration of the metal-containing ions.

21 . A composition comprising:
solid particles formed by reacting a solution having metal-containing ions and associated negative counterions with a dendrimer.

22 . The composition of claim 21 , wherein the dendrimer is composed of a branched carbon-chain scaffold with functional groups at regular intervals.

23 . The composition of claim 21 , wherein the dendrimer is composed of a C 2-20 alkyl-diamine core and amidoamine repeating branches.

24 . The composition of claim 23 , wherein the C 2-20 alkyl-diamine core is selected from the group consisting of ethylenediamine, 1,2-diaminododecane, 1,4-diaminobutane, cystamine, 1,6-diaminohexane, and combinations thereof.

25 . The composition of claim 21 , wherein the dendrimer is composed of a PAMAM.

26 . The composition of claim 21 , wherein the metal-containing ions include a metal selected from the group consisting of alkali metals, alkaline earth metals, transition metals, lanthanides, actinides, and combinations thereof.

27 . The composition of claim 21 wherein the metal-containing ions are actinyl ions.

28 . The composition of claim 27 wherein the actinyl ions are selected from the group consisting of UO 2 2+ , NpO 2 2+ , PuO 2 2+ , AmO 2 2+ and combinations thereof.

29 . An inline system for spectroscopically monitoring presence for concentration of metal-containing ions comprises:
a conduit through which a solution having metal-containing ions and associated negative counterions flows. a spectrophotometer in optical communication with the solution; and a dendrimer source for providing dendrimers upstream of the spectrophotometer.

30 . The inline system of claim 29 further comprising a filter located downstream of spectroscopic system to collect precipitates formed from the reaction of dendrimers with solution.

31 . The inline system of claim 29 wherein the spectrophotometer applies UV-visible-NIR absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy.

32 . The inline system of claim 29 wherein the spectrophotometer applies UV-visible-NIR absorption and fluorescence spectroscopy.

33 . The inline system of claim 29 wherein the dendrimers includes a PAMAM dendrimer selected from the group consisting of PAMAM generation 1 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 2 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 3 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 4 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 5 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 6 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 7 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 8 dendrimers, PAMAM generation 9 dendrimers, and PAMAM generation 10 dendrimers, and combinations thereof.

34 . The inline system of claim 29 wherein the metal-containing ions are actinyl ions.

35 . The inline system of claim 34 wherein the actinyl ions are selected from the group consisting of UO 2 2+ , NpO 2 2+ , PuO 2 2+ , AmO 2 2+ and combinations thereof.

36 . The inline system of claim 34 wherein the actinyl ions are UO 2 2+ .

37 . The inline system of claim 29 wherein the metal-containing ions are lead ions, cadmium ions, copper ions, nickel ions, cobalt ions, chromium ions, or combinations thereof.

Assignees

• Univ California

Inventors

• Thomas Kara E
• Finkeldei Sarah C
• Nilsson Mikael
• Fishman Dmitry A

Classifications

• C22B60/0295

  obtaining other actinides except plutonium · CPC title

• C22B13/04

  by wet processes · CPC title

• C22B60/026

  liquid-liquid extraction with or without dissolution in organic solvents · CPC title

• C02F2101/006

  Radioactive compounds · CPC title

• C02F1/683

  by addition of complex-forming compounds · CPC title