Sorption behaviour of 137Cs and 152+154Eu onto bentonite phosphate modified with nickel: kinetics, isotherms, and chromatographic column application

Abstract

Abstract Using batch and column procedures, the present work investigated the sorption behaviour of 137 Cs and 152+154 Eu by bentonite phosphate modified with nickel (BPN) sorbent. The kinetic data obey pseudo-1 st -order for 137 Cs and follow pseudo-2 nd -order for 152+154 Eu. Various sorption isotherm models were used to analyze equilibrium data. The thermodynamic functions reflect an endothermic and spontaneous sorption process. HCl (about 95.35 %) and CaCl 2 (about 98.13 %) showed the optimum eluents for the complete recovery of both 137 Cs and 152+154 Eu, respectively. Finally, column data show that 137 Cs and 152+154 Eu may be loaded on BNP sorbent and separated from an aqueous solution using a variety of HCl concentrations as eluent. The obtianed results revealed that BNP sorbent is suitable for recovering 137 Cs and 152+154 Eu from low-level radioactive waste effluents (LLW).