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

密苏里州-堪萨斯城大学（UMKC）和南卫理公会大学（SMU）的研究人员将研究如何使用多孔聚合物从废物流中回收金离子。从电子废物中回收黄金具有显著的环境和经济效益。2022年，全球电子废物回收市场规模达到约553亿美元，其中黄金回收占最大价值。吸附分离技术是一种高效、简单、经济、环保的分离方法。然而，目前的吸附回收技术存在吸附容量低、吸附速率慢、选择性差等缺点。该项目将开发吸附剂，用于有效和高效地回收可充电电池应用所必需的金和其他金属离子，促进美国在能源和国防领域的全球领导地位。该项目支持研究生和本科生的跨学科培训。调查人员与UMKC的多元文化学生事务办公室和SMU的学习，麦克奈尔学者和汉密尔顿本科研究学者计划合作，从STEM中代表性不足和服务不足的群体中招募学生。研究结果将在同行评审的期刊、会议和在线媒体上广泛传播。系统的实验和理论研究将被进行，以获得基本的洞察金离子和新的吸附剂的基础上固有的多孔三嗪交联聚乙烯亚胺（TCPEI）网络之间的相互作用。本论文主要完成四个方面的研究工作：（1）设计合成三种不同胺氮分布的TCPEI，（2）实验和理论研究三种TCPEI对金离子的吸附容量和吸附能量，（3）实验和理论研究吸附和脱附动力学，（4）实验和理论研究TCPEI对金离子的吸附和脱附动力学，（5）实验和理论研究TCPEI对金离子的吸附和脱附动力学。以及（4）探索TCPEI相对于电子废物中常见的其他金属离子如铅、汞、镍、钴、锰、镉、铬、铁和铜的金吸附选择性。该研究有望导致先进的吸附回收金技术。通过这项研究获得的基础知识也可以应用于开发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性能，并进行理论研究，以了解吸附过程和聚合物性能。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

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.