Highly efficient iodide adsorption from medical radioactive wastewater by strong alkaline anion exchange fiber

Abstract

The conventional decay cell technology faces challenges in addressing the growing demand for medical isotopes and the increasing volume of radioactive wastewater. To overcome this, a kind of strongly alkaline anion-exchange fiber (N-AF) was employed in this study for the treatment of radioactive wastewater containing iodine, specifically from nuclear medicine applications in hospitals. A series of adsorption experiments were conducted to assess the potential of N-AF as an adsorbent for removing iodide ions. The static and dynamic adsorption capacities of N-AF for iodide ions were determined to be 347.0 and 288.4 mg g−1, respectively. Characterization techniques such as SEM/EDS, FT-IR, and XPS confirmed the successful capture of iodide ions by N-AF. Furthermore, N-AF demonstrated effective purification of radioactive wastewater containing iodine from actual nuclear medical treatment, reducing the gross-activity from 563.50 to 0.29 Bq L−1. This achievement enables the total activity of radioactive wastewater to comply with the water pollutant discharge standard for medical institutions (GB18466–2005). This outcome holds significant importance in mitigating the risk of radioactive contamination and enhancing treatment rate.