A study on the sorption behaviour of TAR-XVI, chelating resin for analysis of trace uranium in geological materials

A method has been described on the selective separation and preconcentration of uranium from geological materials with TAR-XVI which is a styrene based chelating resin containing 4-(2-thiazolylazo) resorcinol functional groups. On a mini column filled with 200 mg of TAR-XVI and equilibrated with 2.5 mM CDTA (pH 5.4), uranium was selectively sorbed from pH 5.4, sample solution containing CDTA as a complexing agent and subsequently the major and minor metal ions which were weakly sorbed or in the resin matrix pores were completely eluted with a 2.5 mM CDTA plus 25 mM NH4F cleaning solution. Finally, uranium was quantitatively recovered with 0.2 M HNO3 followed by determining with an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer. Applicability of the method was evaluated by determining the amount of uranium in four standard reference materials and one domestic granite rock, and the results of four replicate analyses were in good agreement with values certified by NIST (National Institute Standards and Technology). (author). 53 refs., 3 tabs., 12 figs