Europium removal with a mineral mixtre

Abstract

Natural mixture containing mostly minerals of iron, sillicon, magnesium, aluminium and calcium was exploited for the decontamination study of europium radionuclides from aqueous radioactive waste solutions. The physicochemical conditions, such as shaking and equilibration time, nature of hydrogen ions, pH, temperature, concentrations of adsorbate and adsorbent were experimentally determined. This study showed quantitative adsorption beyond pH 7 and under optimized conditions, up to 33 g of the adsorbate can be rapidly removed from radioactive effluents using only 1 kg of the mineral mixture (MM). Desorption study of the solidified radioactive waste product reveals no significant loss (< 0.01% month), indicating MM as an effective material for removal of radioactive europium and storing it in solid form over a long period of time.