Preparation of a chromatographic solid support on the basis of perlite, and separation of uranium on a tributyl-phosphate-loaded perlite column

The SiO2 content of the mineral perlite, which is the 70-75% range, was converted to soluble silicates with NaOH. The acidification of soluble silicates in the perlite formed hydrogels which turned into xerogels upon drying. Several parameters, particle size, specific surface area, pore size and volume, and surface hydroxyl group density were investigated for perlite standardized by NaOH. The standardized perlite was silanized and loaded with 20% (w/w) tributyl phosphate before use as a reversed-phase column chromatograghy solid support for the investigation of the chromatographic behavior of UO22+ and Fe3+.