Synthesis of Quinoline/Phenanthroline Impregnated Sugarcane Bagasse for Recovering Uranium(VI) and Thorium(IV) from their Solutions

This present research aims to synthesize and investigate the adsorption potential of sugarcane bagasse (SCB) impregnated with 8 hydroxy quinolone 8-(HQ) and 1,10 phenethroline (phen) to prepare impregnated sugarcane bagasse (ISCB) for removal U^VI and Th^IV. The effects of the operating parameters, including pH of the solution, contact time, initial concentration, temperature, dose and interfering ions on the adsorption efficiency were investigated to identify an optimal condition. The characterization of SEM-EDX and FTIR analyses shows that ISCB has a porous structure and carbon-containing functional groups. The adsorption result revealed that ISCB removed 98 % for both U^VI and Th^IV. The result obtained fitted well for Langmuir isotherms model with 185.19 mg · g^–1 and 250 mg · g^–1 as theoretical capacity for U^VI and Th^IV respectively. The adsorption process followed the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. In conclusion, this study proved that ISCB has the potential to be used as an effective and low-cost adsorbent to remove U^VI and Th^IV. Finally we obtain products from thorium as ThO₂ and uranium as Na₂U₂O₇ from Abu Rushied leach liquor.