Adsorption of UO22+ by polyethylene hollow fiber membrane with amidoxime group

The polyethylene (PE) membrane was prepared by the radiation-induced grafting of acrylonitrile (AN) onto PE hollow fiber and by the subsequent amidoximation of cyano groups in poly-AN graft chains. The adsorption characteristics of the chelating hollow fiber membrane was examined as the solution of UO22+ permeated across the chelating hollow fiber membrane. The inner and outer diameter increased with an increasing grafting yield, whereas, the pure water flux and pore diameter decreased with an increasing grafting yield. The adsorption of UO22+ by the chelating hollow fiber membranes increased with an increasing amidoxime group. The adsorbed amount of UO22+ in the uranyl acetate solution was higher than that in the uranyl nitrate solution The adsorbed amount of UO22+ is higher than that of Cu2+ when the solution of UO22+ and Cu2+ permeated across the chelating membrane, respectively. The adsorption characteristics of UO22+ by the amidoxime group-chelating fiber membrane in the presence of Na1+ and Ca2+ showed a high selectivity for UO22+ even though there was a high concentration of Na1+ and Ca2+ in the inlet solution.