No abstract

The feasibility of several approaches to the fabrication of monolith composite cryogels containing transition-metal ferrocyanides for Cs+ ion uptake has been evaluated. Although in the series of investigated metal ion precursors (Cu(II), Zn(II), Ni(II), and Co(II)), in situ formation of the sorption active phase in polyethyleneimine (PEI) cryogel was feasible only in the case of Zn(II) ferrocyanide, this approach has shown significant advantages over the immobilization of ex situ synthesized ferrocyanide nanoparticles. Nanoparticles of the mixed ferrocyanide Zn1.85K0.33[Fe(CN)6] formed in situ had an average size of 516 ± 146 nm and were homogeneously distributed in the monolith located at the polymer surface rather than embedded in the matrix. The Young modulus of the PEI cryogel increased after modification from 25 to 57 kPa, but composites maintained high permeability to the flow. Sorption of Cs+ ions has been investigated at superficial velocity up to 8 m/h. Steep breakthrough profiles and uptake efficiency of >99.5% until breakthrough point confirmed that a supermacroporous structure of the monolith composite assured good mass transfer, so that intraparticle diffusion was not the limiting stage of sorption kinetics. Application of the rate-constant distribution model (RCD model) to analyze the breakthrough curves of Cs+ sorption allowed the identification of two types of sorption sites with a difference in sorption rate constants of ~1 log unit. Most likely, sorption on “fast” sorption sites was governed by ion exchange between Cs+ ions in solution and K+ ions in the ferrocyanide lattice. Cs-137 radionuclide removal was investigated using the monolith composite columns of various geometries at superficial velocity up to the 6.6 m/h; specific gamma activity was reduced from 265 kBq/L to the background level, showing high potential of these materials for POU application.

No abstract

The present work was devoted to study of sorption parameters of resorcinol-formaldehyde resins synthesized through introduction of an inorganic filler (in amounts of 10 and 25 wt.%) with its subsequent leaching. The surface morphology and composition of ion-exchange resins have been investigated by means of the method of scanning electron microscopy. The effect of internal diffusion on the peculiarities of the ion-exchange process has been determined. It has been revealed that the ion-exchangers destruction upon a prolonged contact with highly alkaline solutions is followed by the decrease of internal diffusion coefficients and selectivity toward Cs-137 micro-quantities. The sorption properties of resins under dynamic conditions at high solution feeding rates have been studied. A sample with the highest efficiency of Cs-137 removal from highly mineralized solutions has been identified.

No abstract