Highly efficient removal of uranium (VI) from aqueous solutions by amino functionalized bentonite

The generation of nuclear energy produces a large amount of uranium containing wastewater, which must be treated. In this study, amino functionalized bentonite (Bent-NH2) was prepared by modifing Gaomiaozi bentonite with 3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane. Various characterization results confirmed the successful grafting. The batch adsorption experiments indicated Bent-NH2 reached its maximum adsorption capacity rapidly (20 min), 49.168 mg/g. Notably, Bent-NH2 had better adsorption performance than unmodified bentonite in really groundwater with different pH. This work demonstrates that Bent-NH2 has excellent adsorption performance and can be used for low uranium wastewater treatment and geological disposal.