Study of adsorption behavior of a new synthesized resin containing glycol amic acid group for separation of scandium from aqueous solutions

- The new resin selectively adsorbs scandium at pH 1.
- Elution of scandium from the loaded resin is quantitative using 2 M HCl at 80 °C.
- The maximum loading of scandium on the resin was 7.0 mg Sc/mL resin.

A new synthesized resin containing glycol amic acid was used for separation of scandium from a model solution containing scandium, cerium, lanthanum, and aluminum. The resin shows the possibility of separating scandium from the mixture. Adsorption selectivity for scandium over the other metals was obtained at pH 1. The kinetics of adsorption of scandium by the resin was slow, and a contact time of 24 h was chosen in this study. The adsorption capacity of the resin for scandium in a column configuration was 7.0 mg Sc/mL. Scandium could be eluted from the loaded resin using 2.0 M HCl solution at 80 °C, and the highest enrichment point of scandium reached 540 mg Sc/L, which is 27 times greater than the initial scandium concentration, respectively. The results show that the resin has potential for use in the recovery of scandium from aqueous solutions generated in the processing of monazite.