Effect of the synthesis temperature of sodium nonatitanate on batch kinetics of strontium-ion adsorption from aqueous solution

Abstract

Sodium titanate materials are promising inorganic ion exchangers for the adsorption of strontium from aqueous solutions. Sodium nonatitanate exhibits a layered structure consisting of titanate layers and exchangeable sodium ions between the layers. The materials used in this study include samples synthesized by a hydrothermal method at temperatures between 60 °C and 200 °C. Their structure, composition, and morphology were investigated with X-Ray diffraction measurements; thermogravimetric, compositional and surface area analyses, and scanning electron microscopy. The structure, composition, and morphology depended on the synthesis temperature. Batch kinetics experiments for the removal of strontium from aqueous solutions were performed, and the data were fitted by a pseudo-second-order reaction model and a diffusive model. The strontium extraction capacity also depended on the synthesis temperature and exhibited a maximum for samples synthesized at 100 °C. The sorption process occurs in one or two diffusion-controlled steps that also depend on the synthesis temperature. These diffusion-limited steps are the boundary-layer diffusion and intra-particle diffusion in the case of pure nonatitanate synthesized at temperatures lower than 170 °C, and only intra-particle diffusion in the case of nonatitanate synthesized at 200 °C.