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Influence of pH, soil humic acid, ionic strength and temperature on sorption of U(VI) onto attapulgite

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Abstract

The surface property of attapulgite was investigated by N2-BET surface area and zeta potential analysis in this paper. Solution pH had a remarkable effect on the sorption process, indicated an inner-sphere complexation. Humic acid (HA) in the solution enhanced U(VI) sorption significantly at pH < 5.0, while decreased U(VI) sorption obviously at pH > 9.0. The characteristic fluorescence changes of HA indicated that a strong chemical reaction occurred between the functional groups in HA and UO22+. The sorption was a spontaneous and endothermic process with increased entropy, and the increase in temperature would benefit the sorption.

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (U1607102, 21577032), The Priority Academic Program Development of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, and the Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiation Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions are acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environmental Science and Engineering, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, People’s Republic of China

    Liqiang Tan, Xiaoli Tan & Xiangke Wang

  2. Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 1126, Hefei, 230031, People’s Republic of China

    Liqiang Tan, Xiaoli Tan, Xuemei Ren & Huiyang Mei

  3. Collaborative Innovation Center of Radiation Medicine of Jiangsu Higher Education Institutions, Soochow University, Suzhou, 215123, People’s Republic of China

    Xiangke Wang

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  1. Liqiang Tan
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Correspondence to Xiaoli Tan or Xiangke Wang.

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Tan, L., Tan, X., Ren, X. et al. Influence of pH, soil humic acid, ionic strength and temperature on sorption of U(VI) onto attapulgite. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 316, 981–991 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-018-5795-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-018-5795-3

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