Study of uranium sorption and desorption on some Turkish clays

Abstract

The sorption and desorption of uranium on two different clay samples which are obtained from the deposit located in Turgutlu and Kula have been studied by application of a batch technique. The two types of clay materials are Ca-montmorillonite. The uranium concentration range was between 200–3000 ppm. Experimental procedures are outlined and results for uranium contacted with montmorillonite are reported and discussed. The sorption/desorption isotherms were reversible and non-linear for this concentration range. The relative importance of test parameters e.g., pH, clay particle size, temperature, ground water composition, contact — time, solid/water ratio which require definition in order to arrive at meaningful distribution coefficients were carried out. The sorption coefficients varied between 0.65–1.45 and 0.45–1.14 for Kula clay and for Turgutlu clay, respectively. The data could be fitted to Freundlich and Langmuir isotherms. The quantity of the sorbed and desorbed uranium ions was much lower than its theoretical CEC's. This was attributed to a blocking of montmorillonite's CEC by uranium islands sorbed in interlayer. The results have shown that the test parameters can have a marked effect on sorption and the present work provides further evidence of the need to take account of the presence of such materials in safety assessment modeling.