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Immobilization of uranium soils with alkali-activated coal gangue–based geopolymer

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Abstract

Uranium is a relatively active and chemically toxic natural radionuclide, its enrichment in the environment poses a serious threat to human health and ecosystems. It is necessary to dispose the uranium contaminated soil safely and efficiently. In this study, the effect of coal gangue-based geopolymers on the solidification of uranium-contaminated soil was examined using a single factor experiment. The highest compressive strength of the solidified body reached 24.6 MPa, and the highest fixation efficiency of uranium reached 77.44%. The results show that lower liquid-to-solid ratio, higher alkali activator content and lower alkali activator modulus promote the solidification of uranium.

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Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51174117), the Scientific Research Project of the Hunan Provincial Education Department (No. 17C0439) and Hunan Provincial Innovation Foundation for University, China (No. 201811528003).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Civil Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang, 421000, China

    Shukui Zhou, Jiali Li, Lishan Rong, Jiang Xiao, Yi Duan, Luping Chu, Qi Li & Liu Yang

  2. Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Pollution Control and Resources Reuse Technology, University of South China, Hengyang, 421000, China

    Yingjiu Liu

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  1. Shukui Zhou
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  2. Jiali Li
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  3. Lishan Rong
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  4. Jiang Xiao
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  7. Luping Chu
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  8. Qi Li
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  9. Liu Yang
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Contributions

SZ: Writing- review & editing. JL: Data curation, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—original draft. LR, JX, YL, YD: Supervision, Validation. LC, QL, LY: Investigation. All authors read and contributed to the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Shukui Zhou.

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Zhou, S., Li, J., Rong, L. et al. Immobilization of uranium soils with alkali-activated coal gangue–based geopolymer. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 329, 1155–1166 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07812-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07812-x

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