Preparation of an extractant-impregnated porous membrane for the high-speed separation of a metal ion

A novel impregnation method of extractants into a porous polymeric support is described. Bis(2-ethylhexyl)phosphate (HDEHP) was impregnated onto an n-octadecylamino group of the polymer chain grafted onto the pore surface of a porous hollow-fiber membrane. First, an epoxy-group-containing polymer chain was appended onto the porous membrane by radiation-induced graft polymerization of glycidyl methacrylate (GMA). Second, n-octadecylamine was added to the graft chain via an epoxy-ring opening reaction to yield a hydrophobic group density of 3.0 mmol/g of the GMA-grafted fiber. Finally, HDEHP was impregnated to the n-octadecylamino group. The amount of impregnated HDEHP of 2.1 mmol/g of the GMA-grafted fiber was attained while retaining the liquid permeability of the porous membrane. An yttrium solution was forced to permeate through the pores of the HDEHP-impregnated porous hollow-fiber membrane. The higher permeation rate of the yttrium solution led to the higher adsorption rate of yttrium because of a negligible diffusional mass-transfer resistance. In addition, a high stability of impregnated HDEHP was observed after the repeated use of adsorption with 50 mg-Y/L yttrium solution and elution with 7 M nitric acid.