Vion chemisorptive fibers - materials for concentrating uranium ions and noble-metal ions from slightly mineralized natural waters

In the natural waters of mining regions, for example, Karelia, there are uranium and noble-metal ions, whose concentration amounts to 10-8-10-10 g/liter, which is close to or above the sensitivity threshold of methods employed for their analysis. Existing methods of concentration are laborious to carry out and require transportation of large volumes of samples and do not always guarantee detection of elements of interest. It was of interest to carry out studies using Vion chemisorptive fibers, which have high values for specific surface and static-exchange capacity. Thanks to this, a considerable shortening in duration of the process for sorbing the elements and a more complete trapping of these from low-concentration solutions was expected. As chemisorbents the authors used the fibrous materials Vion KN-1 (in the Na-form), AN-1, and AN-3, which are characterized by static-exchange capacities of 5.3; 2.3; and 2.7 meq/g, respectively. Investigations of the sorption of uranium and of noble metals by the indicated chemisorbents was carried out under laboratory and field conditions