High-efficiency removal of Cs (I) by vermiculite/zinc hexacyanoferrate (II) composite from aqueous solutions

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2023

Department

Department of Materials Science and Engineering

Abstract

Aimed to solve the problems of low adsorption capacity, complex preparation and difficult recovery for reported cesium ion adsorbents, a novel high-efficiency Cs+ adsorbent of vermiculite/zinc hexacyanoferrate (II) (VMT/ZnHCF) composite was prepared via in situ synthetic method. The structure and properties of this composite were comprehensively characterized using XRD, FTIR, SEM, TEM, and TG-DTA. The maximum Cs+ adsorption capacity was recorded to be 378.79 mg/g, and this value was significantly higher than the values recorded for other absorbents. This spontaneous and exothermic adsorption behavior could be explained by the Langmuir isotherm model and the pseudo-second-order kinetic model. In addition, this composite exhibited excellent selective adsorption ability towards Cs+ even in solutions containing high concentrations of Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+. The Cs+ adsorption mechanism was analyzed by conducting ion exchange experiments and using XRD, SEM, and XPS techniques. The Cs+ adsorption of the VMT/ZnHCF composite was synergistically achieved through the ion exchange of Na+ in vermiculite interlayers and Zn2+ in zinc hexacyanoferrate (II) lattices. A high-efficiency and simple preparation of cesium ion adsorbent has been developed in application of cesium ion wastewater treatment. This work can provide theoretical guidance to realize the non-hazardous treatment of radioactive wastewater.

Publication Title

Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering

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