Development of a Functionalised Polymer-Coated Silica for the Removal of Uranium from Groundwater

A new active material for the treatment of uranium contaminated groundwater using permeable reactive barriers has been developed. This material, called PANSIL, is an example of a tailored ligand system that selectively removes a contaminant from solution. The active medium in PANSIL is a polyacryloamidoxime resin derived from polyacrylonitrile, which is deposited from solution onto the surface of quartz sand to form a thin film coating. PANSIL is highly effective at sequestering UO22+ from solution when the pH is between about 5 and 8 and can preferentially sequester UO22+ from solutions that are typical of the groundwater from a mine tailings site, due to the stability of the polyacryloamidoxime uranyl complex formed. Uranium sequestration capacity will depend on the surface area of the sand that is resin coated, but in the batch of PANSIL tested (<2% resin by weight), it exceeds 4000 mg of UO2 per kg of PANSIL at pH 4.5 when the dissolved UO22+ concentration is greater than 300 mg/L. PANSIL largely retains the permeability and strength of the sand employed and therefore has suitable engineering properties for permeable reactive barrier applications.