Porous Resorcinol-Formaldehyde Resins

Abstract

Porous ion-exchanging resorcinol-formaldehyde resins were prepared by removing an inorganic template (CaCO3) and by polymerization of a highly concentrated emulsion with toluene as a dispersing phase. As compared to original resorcinol-formaldehyde resins, the porous one is characterized with higher values of internal diffusion, providing exceptional purification coefficients. However, the amounts of the introduced CaCO3 and toluene have to be below 10 wt.% and 25 wt.%, respectively, to avoid fast degradation of the ion-exchanger. Under dynamic conditions, average purification coefficients in the model solution of Cs-137 are twice higher than those of the non-porous sample. The prepared porous ion-exchange resin can be used in cases when high Cs-137 uptake from liquid media should be realized at increased rates of solution percolation.