The application belongs to the technical field of
rare earth recovery, and particularly relates to a modified
chitosan adsorbent for recovering
scandium and a preparation method thereof, which comprises the following steps: (1) preparing a
chitosan-
acetic acid mixed solution, dropping the
mixed solution into a NaOH solution, filtering off the alkali solution after soaking and solidifying, and cleaning the
solid with deionized water until the filtrate is neutral to obtain a spherical gel; (2) adding a pre-crosslinking agent to the spherical gel, oscillating or stirring, filtering off the liquid, and washing the
solid multiple times to obtain pre-
crosslinked chitosan; (3) adding deionized water to the pre-
crosslinked chitosan, mixing uniformly, then dropping in a crosslinking agent, oscillating until sufficient crosslinking is achieved, filtering off the liquid, and washing the
solid to obtain the solid; (4) adding an
ethanol solution and an
amination reagent to the solid, oscillating or stirring, filtering off the liquid, and washing the solid to obtain polyaminated
chitosan; and (5) uniformly mixing a
solvent, the polyaminated chitosan, a phosphinic acid and an inorganic acid, heating, adding a
formaldehyde solution, constant-temperature reaction, extraction, and removing the
solvent to obtain the modified chitosan adsorbent.