Wang Zijie, Brown Alexander T, Tan Kui, Chabal Yves J, Balkus Kenneth J
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry , 800 West Campbell Road , University of Texas at Dallas , Richardson , Texas 75080 , United States.
Laboratory for Surface and Nanostructure Modification, Department of Material Science and Engineering , 800 West Campbell Road , University of Texas at Dallas , Richardson , Texas 75080 , United States.
J Am Chem Soc. 2018 Nov 7;140(44):14735-14739. doi: 10.1021/jacs.8b07610. Epub 2018 Oct 23.
Liquid fluoride thorium reactors have been considered as replacements for uranium-based nuclear reactors, having many economic and environmental advantages. The production of thorium is usually accompanied by the separation of thorium from rare earth elements since the major thorium production mineral, monazite, contains other rare earth elements. The conventional manufacturing process involves a liquid-liquid extraction with organic ligands. There is a need to develop solid state absorbents with good reusability for metal ion separation processes. Porous carbon is particularly interesting due to acid/base resistance. A new absorbent, surface-oxidized wrinkled mesoporous carbon (WMC-O), has been prepared for the selective extraction of thorium ions from rare earth ions. WMC-O shows high selectivity for thorium adsorption due to the 4+ oxidation state of thorium. The distribution coefficient ( K) of the WMC-O for thorium from all rare earth elements is 2 orders of magnitude larger than that of surface-oxidized activated carbon (13 × 10 vs 35 × 10 at pH 2.15). WMC-O also shows a high adsorption capacity for pure rare earth ions ( K > 3 × 10). These features make WMC-O a promising absorbent for thorium extraction and rare earth ion recovery.
液态氟化钍反应堆被认为是铀基核反应堆的替代品，具有许多经济和环境优势。钍的生产通常伴随着钍与稀土元素的分离，因为主要的钍生产矿物独居石含有其他稀土元素。传统的制造工艺涉及使用有机配体进行液 - 液萃取。需要开发具有良好可重复使用性的固态吸附剂用于金属离子分离过程。多孔碳因其耐酸碱性能而特别受关注。一种新型吸附剂，表面氧化的皱纹介孔碳（WMC - O），已被制备用于从稀土离子中选择性萃取钍离子。由于钍的 +4 氧化态，WMC - O 对钍吸附具有高选择性。WMC - O 对所有稀土元素中钍的分配系数（K）比表面氧化的活性炭大 2 个数量级（在 pH 2.15 时，分别为 13×10 和 35×10）。WMC - O 对纯稀土离子也显示出高吸附容量（K > 3×10）。这些特性使 WMC - O 成为用于钍萃取和稀土离子回收的有前景的吸附剂。
