The sorption of Eu(III) on calcareous soil: effects of pH, ionic strength, temperature, foreign ions and humic acid

Effect of DTPA on europium sorption onto quartz - Batch sorption experiments and surface complexation modeling

Sorption of radionuclides on mineral surfaces retards their migration in the environment of a repository. Presence of organic ligands, however, affects sorption and consequently influences their transport behavior. In this study, we quantify the sorption of Eu(III) onto quartz surfaces as a function of pH in the absence and presence of diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA). Batch sorption experiments show a pH-dependent sorption of Eu(III) on quartz. The presence of DTPA results in slightly higher sorption of Eu(III) at neutral to slightly acidic pH and considerably lower sorption at alkaline conditions. Sorption experiments were simulated using the Diffuse Double Layer Model (DDLM) with single sorption sites (≡QOH) and monodentate surface complexation. The reactions were established based on the aqueous speciation calculation under the experimental conditions, and the thermodynamic constants of surface reactions were obtained and refined by numerical optimization. Results of surface complexation modeling show the formation of a surface species ≡QOHEuDTPA^2-, explaining the elevated sorption of Eu(III) at neutral to slightly acidic pH. In contrast, dissolved EuDTPA^2- complex species are present at alkaline pH, resulting in an enhanced mobility of Eu(III).

Kinetic and equilibrium studies of Cs(I), Sr(II) and Eu(III) adsorption on a natural sandy soil

Radioactive cesium, strontium and europium can be released as fission products during nuclear incidents and pose a major concern to contamination control because of their biological activity and long decay half-lives. Experiments were performed to study the kinetics and equilibrium of the adsorption of inactive Cs(I), Sr(II) and Eu(III) ions on a natural sandy soil. It was found that the adsorption of Cs(I), Sr(II) and Eu(III) had a second order reaction kinetics and generally reached equilibrium within 7 days. The adsorption equilibria of Cs(I) follows a Freundlich isotherm, while those of Sr(II) and Eu(III) follows a Langmuir isotherm. Adsorption increases with increasing pH for these cations studied at temperatures from 25 to 50°C. In general, the temperature effect on cation adsorption is small under these test conditions suggesting that the enthalpy change for adsorption is not significant. Tests of mixed Cs(I) and Sr(II) adsorption suggested that these cations likely adsorb on different sites on the surface of sandy soil. The desorption tests in NaCl and CaCl2 solutions show that Eu(III) and Cs(I) are more tightly bound and less mobile in natural sandy soil than Sr(II) under the same test conditions. Tests of Cs(I), Sr(II) and Eu(III) in a column under a flowing condition revealed that these cations mainly adsorbed within the depth of 2 cm below the surface of sandy soil.

The diffusion of 75Se(IV) in Beishan granite – temperature, oxygen condition and ionic strength effects

To explore the diffusion behavior of 75Se(IV) in Beishan granite (BsG), the influences of temperature, oxygen condition and ionic strength were investigated using the through-diffusion experimental method. The effective diffusion coefficient D e of 75Se(IV) in BsG varied from 4.21×10−14 m2/s to 3.19×10−13 m2/s in our experimental conditions, increased with increasing temperature. The formation factor F f of BsG was calculated to be nearly constant in the range of temperatures investigated, suggesting that the inner structure of BsG had no significant change in the temperature range of 20–55°C. Meanwhile, the D e values of 75Se(IV) in BsG under anaerobic condition was significantly larger than that under aerobic condition, which may be attributed to the difference in the sorption characteristics and species distribution of Se and pH values. Moreover, the diffusion of 75Se(IV) was promoted with ionic strength increased from 0.01 M to 0.1 M, and then decreased at 0.5 M, mainly due to the combined effects of reduced double layers with increased ionic strength and increase of the solution viscosity at higher ionic strength.

Titanium Pyrophosphate for Removal of Trivalent Heavy Metals and Actinides Simulated by Retention of Europium

This work addresses the synthesis of titanium pyrophosphate, as well as the characterization and evaluation of the sorption process of europium, for removal of trivalent heavy metals and actinides simulate. The evaluation of the surface properties of titanium pyrophosphate was carried out determining the surface roughness and surface acidity constants. The values obtained from the determination of the surface roughness of the synthesized solid indicate that the surface of the material presents itself as slightly smooth. The FITEQL program was used to fit the experimental titration curves to obtain the surface acidity constants: log⁡K⁺ = 3.59 ± 0.06 and log⁡K^- = -3.90 ± 0.05. The results of sorption kinetics evidenced that the pseudo-order model explains the retention process of europium, in which the initial sorption velocity was 8.3 × 10^-4 mg g^-1 min^-1 and kinetic constant was 1.8 × 10^-3g mg min^-1. The maximum sorption capacity was 0.6 mg g^-1. The results obtained from sorption edge showed the existence of two bidentate complexes on the surface.

Sorption of Eu(III) at feldspar/water interface: effects of pH, organic matter, counter ions, and temperature

The sorption of Eu(III) on potassium feldspar (K-feldspar) was studied under various physicochemical conditions such as pH, temperature, counter ions and organic matter. The results showed that the sorption of Eu(III) on K-feldspar significantly increased with the increase of pH, and high Eu(III) concentration can inhibit such immobility to some extent. The presence of humic acid (HA) can increase the sorption of Eu(III) on K-feldspar in low pH range; while inhibit to a large extent under alkaline conditions. It is very interesting that at pH ~6.5, high ionic strength can promote the sorption of Eu(III) on K-feldspar in the presence of HA. In contrast, Eu(III) sorption was restricted obviously by NaCl in the absence of HA. The sorption procedure was involved with ion exchange and/or outer-sphere complexation as well as inner-sphere complexation. The presence of F− and PO4 3− dramatically enhanced Eu(III) sorption on K-feldspar, whereas both SO4 2− and CO3 2− had negative effects on Eu(III) sorption. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis indicated that Eu(III) tended to form hydrolysates at high initial concentration (3×10−4 mol/L) and high temperature (338 K).

Sequestration and speciation of Eu(iii) on gamma alumina: role of temperature and contact order

The speciation, migration and transport of radionuclides in the environment are significantly influenced by their interactions with the natural minerals and humic substances therein. In view of this, the effect of temperature and contact order on the sorption behaviors of trivalent Eu(iii) in the γ-Al2O3/Eu(iii) and γ-Al2O3/HA/Eu(iii) systems was studied using batch experiments and the extended X-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy (EXAFS) technique. The endothermic sorption behavior of Eu(iii) in the γ-Al2O3/Eu(iii) systems was induced by the hydrolysis reaction of Eu(iii) in solution and the complexation of Eu(iii) with the γ-Al2O3 surface sites. The endothermic sorption of Eu(iii) in the γ-Al2O3/HA/Eu(iii) systems was attributed to the endothermic binding of HA on γ-Al2O3 and the endothermic complexation between Eu(iii) and HA. EXAFS analysis suggested the formation of type B ternary complexes and their thermodynamic stability improves with rising temperature. The different sorption percentages under various contact orders were closely related to the binding mode of Eu(iii) on the exposed γ-Al2O3 surfaces or the γ-Al2O3/HA colloids. The findings obtained herein are important to evaluate the security of the radioactive waste repository and predict the fate of trivalent actinides (e.g., Am(iii), Cm(iii), Pu(iii), etc.) near the geological repository.

Plutonium partitioning in water-granite and water-α-FeOOH systems: from a viewpoint of a three-phase system

Traditional sorption experiments commonly treat the colloidal species of low-solubility contaminants as immobile species when separated by centrifugation or ultrafiltration. This study shows that, from a viewpoint of a three-phase system, the mobile Pu species, especially the colloidal species, play an important role in Pu partitioning in water-granite and water-α-FeOOH systems. A new distribution coefficient term Ks/(d+c) was defined to take the mobile colloidal species into consideration, and it differs to the traditional distribution coefficient Ks/d by orders of magnitude in the water-granite and water-α-FeOOH systems. This term, Ks/(d+c), can quantitatively describe Pu partitioning in the suspension, in particular the fraction of mobile species that dominate Pu migration in the environment. The effects of ionic strength (I) and pH on the Pu partitioning in water-granite and water-α-FeOOH systems are well interpreted with respect to the zeta potential change of granite grains, α-FeOOH colloid particles and polymeric Pu. It is concluded that the presence of the α-FeOOH colloid with a low concentration (<10 mg L(-1)) is favorable for the stability of colloidal Pu and leads to large proportion of mobile Pu, especially colloid-associated Pu, which will migrate much faster than dissolved Pu in groundwater.

Plutonium partitioning in three-phase systems with water, colloidal particles, and granites: new insights into distribution coefficients

The traditional sorption experiments commonly treated the colloid-associated species of low-solubility contaminants as immobile species resulted from the centrifugation or ultrafiltration, and then solid/liquid distribution coefficients (Ks/d) were determined. This may lead to significantly underestimated mobility of the actinides in subsurface environments. Accordingly, we defined a new distribution coefficient (Ks/d+c) to more adequately describe the mobile characteristics of colloidal species. The results show that under alkaline aqueous conditions the traditional Ks/d was 2-3 orders of magnitude larger than the Ks/d+c involving the colloidal species of (239)Pu. The colloid/liquid distribution coefficients Kc/d≫0 (∼10(6)mL/g) revealed strong competition of the colloidal granite particles with the granite grains for Pu. The distribution percentages of Pu in the three-phase systems, depending on various conditions such as particle concentrations, Na(+) concentrations, pH and time, were determined. Moreover, we developed the thermodynamic and kinetic complexation models to explore the interaction of Pu with the particle surfaces.

Plutonium partitioning in three-phase systems with water, granite grains, and different colloids

Low-solubility contaminants with high affinity for colloid surfaces may form colloid-associated species. The mobile characteristics of this species are, however, ignored by the traditional sorption/distribution experiments in which colloidal species contributed to the immobile fraction of the contaminants retained on the solids as a result of centrifugation or ultrafiltration procedures. The mobility of the contaminants in subsurface environments might be underestimated accordingly. Our results show that colloidal species of (239)Pu in three-phase systems remained the highest percentages in comparison to both the dissolved species and the immobile species retained on the granite grains (solid phase), although the relative fraction of these three species depended on the colloid types. The real solid/liquid distribution coefficients (K s/d) experimentally determined were generally smaller than the traditional K s/d (i.e., the K s+c/d in this study) by ~1,000 mL/g for the three-phase systems with the mineral colloids (granite particle, soil colloid, or kaolinite colloid). For the humic acid system, the traditional K s/d was 140 mL/g, whereas the real K s/d was approximately zero. The deviations from the real solid/liquid K s/d were caused by the artificially increased immobile fraction of Pu. One has to be cautious in using K s/d-based transport models to predict the fate and transport of Pu in the environment.

Distribution of 152Eu and 154Eu in the 'alluvial soil-rhizosphere-plant roots' system

Accumulation of (152)Eu and (15)(4)Eu isotopes in bulk soil and rhizosphere soil in the near-field zone of influence of the Krasnoyarsk Mining and Chemical Combine was studied. An uneven distribution of specific activity of Eu isotopes was observed, with the gross specific activities of the isotopes in the bulk soil exceeding those of the rhizosphere. In the most contaminated locations the fine and the coarse granulometric fractions are enriched with the isotopes. A laboratory experiment indicated potential removal of soluble Eu isotopes by river flood waters may amount to 3% of the total Eu in both bulk and rhizosphere soils. The root system of plants growing in the contaminated territory accumulates (152)Eu and (154)Eu, although the isotopes were not discovered in aboveground parts of plants. Root-hairs were found to be the most contaminated.