Adsorption of uranium (VI) ions from aqueous solution by acrylic and diaminomaleonitrile modified cellulose

Uranium (VI) is the premise and foundation for the development of nuclear industry. It is a significant challenge for extracting U(VI) from wastewater. In this paper, the amidoxime modified polyacrylic acid microcrystalline cellulose (MC-PAA-AO) was prepared by a two-step graft polymerization method and an amidoximation reaction and used for the removal of U(VI) from aqueous solution. The adsorption performance of the adsorbents was investigated by batch experiments. The experimental results indicated that the adsorption capacity of MC-PAAAO increased significantly after grafting PAA chains and amidoximation, and the maximum adsorption capacity was calculated as 328.95 mg/g with respect to Langmuir isotherm model and the adsorption process present pseudo-second-order kinetics. Moreover, the adsorbent still maintained an excellent removal efficiency after five adsorption-desorption recycles and showed superior selectivity. Finally, the adsorption mechanism of U(VI) with MC-PAA-AO was systematically by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). It is a good adsorbent candidate for the removal of U(VI) from wastewater.