Precise stepwise recovery of platinum group metals from high-level liquid wastes based on SDB polymer-modified SiO2

Kun Wu; Shunyan Ning; Xiangbiao Yin; Sizhi Xu; Yilai Zhong; Zengyuan Li; Lifeng Chen; Mohammed F Hamza; Toyohisa Fujita; Yuezhou Wei

doi:10.1039/d3dt03469k

Precise stepwise recovery of platinum group metals from high-level liquid wastes based on SDB polymer-modified SiO₂

Dalton Trans. 2024 Jan 23;53(4):1586-1598. doi: 10.1039/d3dt03469k.

Authors

Kun Wu¹, Shunyan Ning², Xiangbiao Yin², Sizhi Xu¹, Yilai Zhong¹, Zengyuan Li¹, Lifeng Chen², Mohammed F Hamza², Toyohisa Fujita¹, Yuezhou Wei^{2

3}

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Featured Metal Materials and Life-cycle Safety for Composite Structures, MOE Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Nonferrous Metals and Materials, and School of Resources, Environment and Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning 530004, China.
² School of Nuclear Science and Technology, University of South China, 28 Changsheng West Road, Hengyang 421001, P.R. China. ningshunyan@usc.edu.cn.
³ School of Nuclear Science and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, 800 Dong Chuan Road, Shanghai 200240, China.

PMID: 38165017
DOI: 10.1039/d3dt03469k

Abstract

Accurate separation and efficient recovery of platinum group metals (PGMs, mainly Ru, Rh and Pd) from high level liquid waste (HLLW) is a good choice for clean production and sustainable development of nuclear energy. Herein a novel SDB polymer modified silica-based amine-functionalized composite (dNbpy/SiO₂-P) was synthesized for the separation and recovery of PGMs. Laser particle size analysis and BET results clarified the regular spherical and highly interconnected mesoporous structure of dNbpy/SiO₂-P which is critical for the separation of PGMs. The removal percent of PGMs were over 99% on the optimized conditions. In addition, dNbpy/SiO₂-P showed excellent selectivity (SFPd/M > 3805, SFRu/M > 1705, SFRh/M > 336) and repeatability (≥5). Interestingly, based on the different adsorption and desorption kinetics of PGMs, a double-column strategy is designed to solve the challenge of separating and recovering PGMs from HLLW. The enrichment factors of Pd(II), Ru(III) and Rh(III) reached 36.7, 8.2, and 1.2. The adsorption of PGMs was coordination mechanism and required the involvement of NO₃^- to maintain charge balance. The specific distribution of elements within the adsorbents and the changes in valence state were analyzed using depth-profiling XPS. Both depth-profiling XPS results and slope analysis revealed that the complex of dNbpy and PGMs is a 1 : 1 coordination structure. Overall, this work fills the gap that PGMs cannot be effectively separated and enriched from HLLW.