Methods and apparatus for controlling metals in liquids

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9770702-B2
Application number	US-201414564217-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 9, 2014
Priority date	Jun 16, 2014
Publication date	Sep 26, 2017
Grant date	Sep 26, 2017

Abstract

Method for controlling metals in a liquid are described. The liquid is contacted with a hexahydrotriazine and/or a hemiaminal material, and metal is adsorbed from the liquid onto the material. The hexahydrotriazine and/or hemiaminal material may be made from a diamine and an aldehyde.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of removing a metal from a liquid, comprising:
exposing a liquid containing metal to a PHA metal control material, wherein the PHA metal control material comprises a plurality of trivalent hemiaminal groups having the general structure

wherein starred bonds represent attachment points to other portions of the chemical structure of the PHA metal control material;
adsorbing metal from the liquid onto the PHA metal control material; and
removing the metal from the liquid by separating the PHA metal control material from the liquid;
wherein the PHA metal control material is formed by a process comprising:
forming a mixture comprising a solvent and one or more monomers, each monomer having the general structure H 2 N—Ar-L′-Ar—N—H 2 , wherein Ar denotes a benzene ring group and L′ is a divalent linking group, and the PHA metal control material is a reaction product of a formaldehyde and the one or more monomers.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the exposing the liquid containing metal to the PHA metal control material comprises forming a powder of the PHA metal control material and adding the powder to the liquid.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the powder is at least partially soluble in the liquid.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the adsorbing metal from the liquid onto the PHA metal control material comprises continuously flowing the liquid across the PHA metal control material.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PHA metal control material further comprises a PHT material.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the PHA metal control material is formed by a process comprising:
heating the mixture at a temperature of about 20° C. to about 120° C. for about 1 minute to about 24 hours.

7. A method of removing a metal from a liquid, comprising:
flowing a liquid containing metals through a metal control material comprising a PHA material having a plurality of hemiaminal groups, wherein the hemiaminal groups are formed from a mixture comprising a diamine and an aldehyde, wherein the diamine has the general structure H 2 N—Ar-L′-Ar—NH 2 , wherein Ar denotes a benzene ring group and L′ is a divalent linking group;
removing the metal control material from the liquid containing metals; and
removing adsorbed metals from the metal control material by exposing the metal control material to a regeneration material.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the regeneration material is an aqueous basic solution or an aqueous acid solution.

9. The method of claim 7 , further comprising coating the metal control material onto a support.

Assignees

• IBM

Inventors

• Boday Dylan J
• Garcia Jeannette M
• Hedrick James L
• Jones Gavin O
• Wojtecki Rudy J

Classifications

• C02F2201/002

  Construction details of the apparatus · CPC title

• B01J20/262 Primary

  obtained otherwise than by reactions only involving carbon to carbon unsaturated bonds, e.g. obtained by polycondensation (macromolecular compounds obtained otherwise than by reactions only involving unsaturated carbon-to-carbon bonds per se C08G) · CPC title

• B01D15/08

  Selective adsorption, e.g. chromatography · CPC title

• C02F2303/16

  Regeneration of sorbents, filters · CPC title

• C02F1/285 Primary

  using synthetic organic sorbents · CPC title