Hydrous zirconium oxide, hydrous hafnium oxide and method of making same

A method of making hydrous zirconium oxide, comprising the steps of:

• providing a suspension comprising a zirconium compound and an aqueous solution comprising an alkali metal-containing reagent, said alkali metal-containing reagent comprising a compound selected from the group consisting of MOH-M2SO4, MOH-M3PO4, and combinations thereof, where M is at least one selected from the group consisting of Li, Na and K;
• treating said suspension with said aqueous solution effective to form a mixture which achieves an uptake of alkali metal in an amount ranging from 0.8 to 2.0 milliequivalents/gram and wherein a molar ratio of SO4/Zr and PO4/Zr in said mixture ranges from 0.2-0.7:1;
• heating said mixture at a temperature ranging from 80 to 150° C. to produce a reaction product;
• and
• treating said reaction product with acid to form said hydrous zirconium oxide.

A method of making hydrous zirconium oxide, comprising the steps of:

• providing an aqueous mixture comprising a water insoluble zirconium compound and an alkali metal-containing reagent;
• heating said aqueous mixture at a temperature ranging from 80 to 150° C. to produce a reaction product;
• and
• treating said reaction product with acid having a pH ranging from 4 to 8 at a temperature ranging from 20 to 60° C. to form said hydrous zirconium oxide.

A method of removing species from a feed liquid comprising the steps of:

• providing an ion exchange material comprising hydrous zirconium oxide that is granular, amorphous, has no binder that reduces ion exchange capability and has stability against moisture loss characterized by an affinity for arsenic as measured by a distribution coefficient Kd in a 0.001 M AsO4 solution that does not decrease across a moisture content LOD of said hydrous zirconium oxide ranging from 0<LOD<40%;
• passing into contact with said ion exchange material said feed liquid comprising species selected from the group consisting of PO4, HPO4, H2PO4, AsO4, HAsO4, H2AsO4, AsO3, and combinations thereof;
• and
• removing from said feed liquid at least one of said species.

A method of removing species from a feed liquid comprising the steps of:

• providing an ion exchange material comprising hydrous zirconium oxide that is granular, amorphous, has no binder that reduces ion exchange capability and has stability against moisture loss characterized by an affinity for arsenic as measured by a distribution coefficient Kd in a 0.001 M AsO4, solution that does not decrease across a moisture content LOD of said hydrous zirconium oxide ranging from 0<LOD<40%;
• passing into contract with said ion exchange material said feed liquid comprising species selected from the group consisting of oxoanions of Cr, oxoanions of Se, oxoanions of B, oxoanions of Mo, and oxoanions of W;
• and
• removing from said feed liquid at least one of said species.