Synthesis of novel silica-supported chelating resin containing tert-butyl 2-picolyamino-N-acetate and its properties for selective adsorption of copper from simulated nickel electrolyte

A novel silica-supported tert-butyl 2-picolyamino-N-acetate chelating resin (Si-AMPY-1) was successfully synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, FT-IR, SEM and 13 C CP/MAS NMR. The adsorption behaviors of the Si-AMPY-1 resin for Cu(II) and Ni(II) were studied with batch and column methods. The batch experiments indicated that the Si-AMPY-1 resin adsorbed Ni(II) mainly via physisorption, while adsorbed Cu(II) via chemisorption. The column dynamic breakthrough curves revealed that the Si-AMPY-1 resin can efficiently separate Cu(II) from the simulated nickel electrolyte before the breakthrough point. Moreover, the concentration of Cu(II) in the column effluent was decreased to be less than 3 mg/L within the first 43 BV (bed volumes), and the mass ratio of Cu/Ni was 21:1 in the saturated resin, which completely satisfied the industrial requirements of the nickel electrorefining process. Therefore, it was concluded that the Si-AMPY-1 resin can be a promising candidate for the deep removal of Cu(II) from the nickel electrolyte.