Biodegradable star-like polymer flocculants for rapid, efficient purification of water contaminated with industrial radionuclides

Abstract We report on the structure and properties of dextran-graft-polyacrylamide star-lake polymers, which are efficient flocculant aids. Demonstrated in this paper is that these polymers form complexes with three common radionuclide contaminants: uranium, strontium, and cesium. Application of these polymers as flocculant aids together with inexpensive kaolinite-like materials allows fast and efficient purification of water. The methods presented here can be easily scaled up to industrial level decontamination of wastewater or used in large scale production of potable water.