Collaborative Research: Fundamental studies of porous polymers for selective gold retrieval

密苏里大学堪萨斯城分校(UMKC)和南方卫理公会大学(SMU)的研究人员将研究如何使用多孔聚合物从废流中提取金离子。从电子废物(电子废物)中回收黄金具有显著的环境和经济效益。2022年，全球电子垃圾回收市场达到约553亿美元，其中黄金回收占最大价值。吸附技术被认为是一种高效、简便、经济、环保的分离方法。然而，目前基于吸附的黄金回收技术存在着吸附容量低、吸附速度慢、选择性低等缺点。该项目将开发吸附剂，以有效和高效地回收金和其他充电电池应用所必需的金属离子，促进美国在能源和国防领域的全球领先地位。该项目支持研究生和本科生的跨学科培养。调查人员与UMKC的多元文化学生事务办公室和SMU的参与学习、McNair学者和汉密尔顿本科生研究学者计划合作，从STEM中代表性和服务不足的群体中招收学生。研究结果将在同行评议的期刊、会议和在线渠道上广泛传播。我们将进行系统的实验和理论研究，以深入了解金离子与基于三氮杂交联聚乙烯亚胺(TCPEI)网络的新型吸附剂之间的相互作用。将完成四项研究任务：(1)设计和合成三个系列的TCPEIs，它们在不同类型的胺氮中的分布截然不同；(2)从实验和理论上研究这三个系列TCPEIs对金离子的吸附能力和能量；(3)从实验和理论上确定吸附和解吸动力学；(4)探索TCPEIs对电子垃圾中常见的其他金属离子如铅、汞、镍、钴、锰、镉、铬、铁和铜的吸附选择性。这项研究有望带来先进的基于吸附的黄金回收技术。通过这项研究获得的基础知识也可以用于开发对其他金属离子的吸附剂，包括关键金属。研究生和本科生研究人员将接受培训，以合成这些独特的聚合物，测量和表征聚合物的金属离子吸附特性，并进行理论研究以了解吸附过程和聚合物特性。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Investigators at the University of Missouri – Kansas City (UMKC) and Southern Methodist University (SMU) will investigate how to retrieve gold ions from waste streams using porous polymers. Recovering gold from electronic waste (e-waste) has significant environmental and financial benefits. The global e-waste recycling market reached around $55.3 billion in 2022, with gold recovery accounting for the most value. Adsorption technology is regarded as a highly effective, simple, economical, and environmentally benign separation method. However, current adsorption-based gold recovery technology suffers from low adsorption capacity, slow adsorption rates, and low selectivity. This project will develop adsorbents for the effective and efficient recovery of gold and other metal ions essential for rechargeable battery applications, promoting the United States’ global leadership in the energy and defense sectors. This project supports the interdisciplinary training of graduate and undergraduate students. The investigators have partnered with UMKC’s Multicultural Student Affairs Office and SMU’s Engaged Learning, McNair Scholars, and Hamilton Undergraduate Research Scholars programs to recruit students from underrepresented and underserved groups in STEM. The research results will be broadly disseminated in peer-reviewed journals, conferences, and online outlets. Systematic experimental and theoretical studies will be conducted to gain fundamental insights into the interactions between gold ions and novel adsorbents based on intrinsically porous triazine-crosslinked polyethyleneimine (TCPEI) networks. Four research tasks will be completed: (1) design and synthesize three series of TCPEIs with dramatically different distributions of the various types of amine nitrogen; (2) experimentally and theoretically study the gold ion adsorption capacities and energies of the three sets of TCPEIs; (3) experimentally and theoretically determine adsorption and desorption kinetics; and (4) explore the gold adsorption selectivity of TCPEIs over other metal ions commonly found in e-waste such as lead, mercury, nickel, cobalt, manganese, cadmium, chromium, iron, and copper. The research is expected to lead to advanced adsorption-based gold recovery technology. The fundamental knowledge gained through this study may also be applied to develop adsorbents for other metal ions, including critical metals. The graduate and undergraduate student researchers will be trained to synthesize these unique polymers, measure and characterize the polymers’ metal ion adsorption properties, and perform theoretical studies to understand adsorption processes and polymer properties.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.