New Mexico Geological Society Annual Spring Meeting — Abstracts

Uranium has a significant impact on life in several Western states including New Mexico. The EPA in 1991 proposed the uranium standard for drinking water to be 30 ppb (EPA 1991) but groundwater in uranium-rich areas can range up to 120 ppb (Langmuir 1997). This creates a large problem in New Mexico because most drinking water comes from sources that can be contaminated with high uranium concentrations. Removal of uranium by binding to a subsequently-separable solid is becoming a highly sought technology in industry and uranium research. Veliscek-Carolan et al (2013) reported that the non-functionalized titania oxide absorbed 20% uranium selectively from a mixed solution of other actinides and lanthanides and radioactive material. They additionally found that with other functional groups the absorption rate increased to 50% selectively to uranium (Veliscek-Carolan 2013).In my project we will be developing potential uranium filters with a new proprietary material that is an inorganic-organic hybrid material on the bases of graphite developed by Dr. Frolova.This is a new material that has recently been prepared and will be patented. The goal of this new material is to create a surface which will specifically absorb uranium, thus significantly reducing uranium concentrations in drinking water as an inexpensive, reusable commercial filter. This will be accomplished by modifying carbon material with organic pendants that have binding characteristics specific to uranium. In our preliminary results we were able to concentrate 91.6% of uranium on our material and 81.98% of uranium when mixed with other common divalent cations.