Cation exchangers on a sugar-beet pulp base. Application for decontaminating radioactive waste water

Experiments were carried out on the use of sugar beet pulp, which is a weakly acidic cation-exchange material with a capacity of about 0.62 mg equivalent per g of dry matter. It was found that sugar beet pulp adsorbs the salts of alkaline earth metals selectively tn the presence of both sodium and lathanum, and it successfully decontaminated a solution containing barium-140 and lanthanum-140 with an activity of about 10/sup -2/ mu C per ml. Treatment of the pulp with formaldehyde and hydrochloric acid greatly reduced the amount of water bound to the pulp and increased the exchange capacity six-fold. Treatment with formaldehyde, hydrochloric acid, and dilute sulfuric acid also produced an exchange material with good mechanical and filtration properties and with a capacity of about 1.3 mg equtvalent per g of dry matter. (Public Health Eng. abstr., 42: No. 3, March 1962)