Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Polonium removal from waters by silver-coated Luffa Cylindrica biochar fibers

  • Published:
Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The sorption of ultra-trace levels of polonium by Luffa Cylindrica biochar fibers has been investigated in de-ionized water and seawater samples prior and after surface modification (Ag-coating) of the adsorbent. The effect of pH on the sorption efficiency (e.g., partition coefficient values, Kd) indicated that pH, which governs the solution chemistry of Po(IV), affects to a large degree the sorption efficiency and that Ag-coating of the surface results in significantly higher Kd values. The modified adsorbent presents enhanced removal efficiency for Po-209 even from seawater samples indicating the usefulness of the modified biochar fibers for the treatment of polonium contaminated waters.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Carvalho FP, Fernandes S, Fesenko S, Holm E, Howard B, Martin P, Pröhl G, Twinig (2017) The Environmental Behaviour of Polonium. IAEA Tec Rep Ser No484 7:276

    Google Scholar 

  2. Ansoborlo E, Berard P, Den Auwer C, Leggett R, Menetrier F, Younes A, Moisy P (2012) Review of chemical and radiotoxicological properties of polonium for internal contamination purposes. Chem Res Toxicol 25:1551–1564

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Strumińska-Parulska D, Skwarzec B, Tuszkowska A, Jahnz-Bielawska A, Boryło A (2010) Polonium (210 Po), uranium (238 U) and plutonium (239 + 240 Pu) in the biggest Polish rivers. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 286:373–380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Hicsonmez U, Erenturk SA, Gorgun AU, Aslani MAA (2020) Removal of 209Po from aquatic environment and its equilibrium and thermodynamic parameters. J Environ Radioact 220:106280

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Seiler R (2016) 210Po in drinking water, its potential health effects, and inadequacy of the gross alpha activity MCL. Sci Total Environ 568:1010–1017

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Hossain F (2020) Natural and anthropogenic radionuclides in water and wastewater: Sources, treatments and recoveries. J Environ Radioact 225:106423

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. MacKenzie AB, Scott RD (1979) Separation of bismuth-210 and polonium-210 from aqueous solutions by spontaneous adsorption on copper foils. Analyst 104(1245):1151–1158

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. El Afifi EM, Borai EH (2006) Performance Characteristics of Sequential Separation and Quantification of Lead-210 and Polonium‐210 by Ion Exchange Chromatography and Nuclear Spectrometric Measurements. J Enviro Qual 35(2):568–574

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Lemons B, Khaing H, Ward A, Thakur P (2018) A rapid method for the sequential separation of polonium, plutonium, americium and uranium in drinking water. Appl Radiat Isot 136:10–17

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Suganuma H, Ito K, Hataye I (1981) Separation of polonium species in nitrate solutions by paper chromatography. J Radioanal Chem 62(1–2):125–133

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Liatsou I, Christodoulou E, Pashalidis I (2018) Thorium adsorption by oxidized biochar fibres derived from Luffa cylindrica sponges. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 317:1065–1070

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Sawai O, Oshima Y (2008) Deposition of silver nano-particles on activated carbon using supercritical water. J Supercrit Fluids 47:240–246

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Kiliari T, Pashalidis I (2010) Simplified alpha-spectroscopic analysis of uranium in natural waters after its separation by cation-exchange. Radiat Meas 45:966–968

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Prodromou M, Pashalidis I (2013) Radium removal from aqueous solutions by adsorption on non-treated and chemically modified biomass by-product. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 295:2095–2102

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Ioannidis I, Anastopoulos I, Pashalidis I (2022) Microplastics as radionuclide (U-232) carriers. J Mol Liq 351:118641

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Ram R, Vaughan J, Etschmann B, Brugger J (2019) The aqueous chemistry of polonium (Po) in environmental and anthropogenic processes. J Hazard Mater 380:120725

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  17. Karali T, Ölmez S, Yener G (1996) Study of spontaneous deposition of 210Po on various metals and application for activity assessment in cigarette smoke. Appl Radiat Isot 47:409–411

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Sethy NK, Sutar AK, Rath P, Jha VN, Ravi PM, Tripathi RM (2015) A review of radio chemical analysis and estimation of 210Po in soil matrices. J Radiat Res Appl 8:590–596

    Google Scholar 

  19. Carvalho F, Fernandes S, Fesenko S, Holm E, Howard B, Martin P, Twining J (2017) The environmental behaviour of polonium IAEA

  20. Serne RJ (2007) Kd values for agricultural and surface soils for use in Hanford site farm, residential, and river shoreline scenarios. PNNL (No. PNNL-16531)

  21. Hadjittofi L, Prodromou M, Pashalidis I (2014) Activated biochar derived from cactus fibres – Preparation, characterization and application on Cu(II) removal from aqueous solutions. Bioresour Technol 159:460–464

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  22. Liatsou I, Pashalidis I, Oezaslan M, Dosche C (2017) Surface Characterization of Oxidized Biochar Fibers Derived from Luffa Cylindrica and Lanthanide Binding. J Environ Chem Eng 5:4069–4074

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, Cy-1678, Nicosia, Cyprus

    Maria Philippou & Ioannis Pashalidis

Authors
  1. Maria Philippou
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Ioannis Pashalidis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ioannis Pashalidis.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Philippou, M., Pashalidis, I. Polonium removal from waters by silver-coated Luffa Cylindrica biochar fibers. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 332, 1395–1398 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08607-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10967-022-08607-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation