Cesium sorption from concentrated acidic tank wastes using ammonium molybdophosphate-polyacrylonitrile composite sorbents

Abstract

Ammonium molybdophosphate-polyacrylonitrile (AMP-PAN) composite sorbents have been evaluated for the removal of cesium from Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) concentrated acidic tank waste. Batch contacts were performed to qualitatively evaluate the effects of increased nitric acid, sodium and potassium. An equilibrium isotherm was generated with simulated concentrated tank waste solutions and fit to the Langmuir equation. Additional batch contact experiments were performed to determine if mercury, plutonium and americium would sorb onto AMP-PAN. Dynamic sorption was evaluated in column tests employing 1.5 cm³ columns operating at 5, 10 and 20 bed volumes of flow per hour. Results indicate, as expected, that dynamic cesium sorption capacity is reduced as the flowrate is increased. Calculated dynamic capacities for cesium were 22.5, 19.8 and 19.6 mg Cs/g sorbent, for 5, 10 and 20 bed volume per hour flows, respectively. The thermal stability of loaded AMP-PAN was evaluated by performing thermogrovimetric analysis (TGA) on samples of AMP, PAN (polymer), and AMP-PAN. Results indicate that AMP-PAN is stable to 400 °C, with less than a 10% loss of weight, which is at least partially due to loss of water of hydration. The evaluation of AMP-PAN indicates that it will effectively remove cesium from concentrated acidic tank waste solutions.