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Effect of natural pyrite oxidation on the U(VI) adsorption under the acidic and neutral conditions

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Abstract

The U(VI) immobilization efficiency and mechanism of natural pyrite were investigated under both acidic and neutral oxidization conditions. The results show that, the final U(VI) removal rate was only 20% under acidic condition; however, a small amount of pyrite oxidation could enhance the immobilization of U(VI) under neutral oxidizing conditions, with the removal rate reaching 95%. A ferric hydroxide colloid, goethite and lepidocrocite were formed in the neutral oxidizing environment. It was speculated that the main U(VI) immobilization mechanisms of pyrite oxidation were adsorption. The adsorption behaviour of U(VI) to pyrite conformed to the pseudo second-order adsorption model (R2 = 0.9996).

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (11705082, 51874180 and 51704169), Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province (2018JJ3434) as well as the double first class construct program of USC (2017SYL05).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resource Environment and Safety Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, People’s Republic of China

    Sainan Wang, Qi Fang, Ran Yan, Yanpei Xie, Junwen Lv, Mi Li, Xiaoyan Wu, Wenfa Tan & Hongqiang Wang

  2. Hengyang Key Laboratory of Soil Pollution Control and Remediation, University of South China, Hengyang, 421001, People’s Republic of China

    Qi Fang, Junwen Lv, Mi Li, Xiaoyan Wu, Wenfa Tan & Hongqiang Wang

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  1. Sainan Wang
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  2. Qi Fang
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  3. Ran Yan
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Correspondence to Qi Fang.

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Wang, S., Fang, Q., Yan, R. et al. Effect of natural pyrite oxidation on the U(VI) adsorption under the acidic and neutral conditions. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 329, 839–848 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-021-07857-y

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