Uranium Partitioning During Water Treatment Processes

Abstract

Some of non-renewable water resources such as deep groundwater aquifers were explored extensively for the use as drinking water. Water treatment plants (WTPs) were established to fulfill the standards of drinking water quality. The study of the chemical behavior of uranium (U) in groundwater treatment process is the main aim of this work that will shed more light on U removal efficiency during water treatment processes. Samples represent various treatment processes such as sand filtration and reverse osmosis were collected. Uranium and other elements (e.g. Ba, Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Na and Sr) concentrations were measured using ICP-MS that shows a wide range of variation. In addition, some physicochemical parameters such as pH, electric conductivity-EC, major cations (Ca 2+ , Mg 2+ , Na + and K +) and major anions (CO 3 2-, HCO3-, Cland SO4 2-) were measured. The removal efficiency of U was about 99% by reverse osmosis (RO) process that leads to increasing the U concentration (293%) in RO reject and consequently in evaporation bond. The concentration of U and other toxic elements in evaporation bond's water could be a serious potential source of environmental contamination due to their continuous increase with water volume reduction.

Hydrochemistry and Uranium Concentration in Brackish Groundwater from an Arid Zone, Chihuahua, Mexico

“…Due to dissolution Zn may release from that molecule and U could bonded with sulphate [20]. It can explain the U correlation with SO 4 (0.70 p<0.5) which can be from agricultural or geological sources from the youngest sediment layers [8,44,45]. This is similar to some studies where high U concentrations in groundwater were found from quaternary and tertiary sediments regions that exhibited U detectable concentrations meanwhile in paozoic and Jurassic rock sediments show low detectable concentration [46].…”

Uranium concentration and health risk assessments in groundwater samples taken different location of Korba District, Chhattisgarh, India

“…The existence of 238 U in aquifer rock, CO 2 , dynamic agents, and oxygen in the aquifer all affect the value of 238 U in water. Temperature, pH, flow rate, value and characteristics of dissolved salts, and residence time are all characteristics of water that can be used to estimate its capacity to dissolve, hold, or deposit elements (Khater et al, 2008). 238 U enters the human body mostly by consuming groundwater , breathing air, or eating food, with 85% of uranium entering through water and 15% through food (Santos Amaral et al, 2005).…”