Preparation of novel amidoxime resin and its performance in gallium (III) extraction from Bayer liquor

Abstract

Gallium is a scattered metal widely used in high-tech fields, and is mainly obtained from Bayer liquor by resin adsorption method. However, the adsorption/desorption rate of commercial adsorbents is slow, and the adsorbents reported in the literature have the disadvantages of poor alkali resistance and difficult mass transfer. In this work, based on the good adsorption selectivity of amidoxime group to gallium, a matrix (DV) with a large number of suspended double bonds was synthesized through the self-polymerization of divinylbenzene (DVB), then polyacrylonitrile (PAN) segments were introduced by reinitiating the suspended double bonds, and finally the PAN segments were converted into poly (amidoxime) (PAO) segments. The PAO segments mainly exist in the form of cross-linked bridges, so the obtained adsorbent (DO adsorbent) maintains a high specific surface area, high cross-linked structure and porous structure. The best adsorbent DO-3, showed better adsorption performance than commercial adsorbent LSC-700 in both simulated solution and Bayer liquor, and adsorbs gallium by the Langmuir model through the oxime group. DO-3 also has good acid and alkali resistance and reusability, which can be practically applied to gallium extraction.

Keywords

• Gallium
• Bayer liquor
• Amidoxime resin
• Kinetics
• Selectivity
• Stability