Solid–liquid extraction of uranium from aqueous solution using Marathon C as a strong cation exchanger resin: kinetic, and isotherm studies

Abstract

ABSTRACT In this study, Adsorption characteristics of uranium from nitrate media onto a commercially accessible strong cation exchange resin, Marathon C, were investigated. The characteristics of Marathon C, before and after adsorption of uranium, were determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The influence of the different parameters, which may affect the process of uranium adsorption process from synthetic solutions and applying on real sample from uranium purification unit, had been tracked. Specifically, impacts of initial uranium concentration (40–300 mg/L), PH (1–8), phase ratio (0.2–1.2 g/L), contact time (2–360 min.) and temperature (& 25–50°C) on uranium removal, were studied. In addition, the sorption kinetics and equilibrium parameters were assessed. At the optimum conditions, the adsorption capacity of uranium at PH 4, 1 g Marathon C/L and 120 min were found to be nearly 131.58 mg g−1 at room temperature (& 25°C). The kinetics and isotherm studies could show that the uranium adsorption onto Marathon C is following the models of pseudo-second-order and Langmuir isotherm, respectively. The thermodynamic parameters had indicated that the adsorption of uranium is an exothermic and spontaneous process (∆H = −64.27 ± 0.01, ∆G = −22.57 ± 0.02). The detected results of uranium adsorption could reveal that Marathon C is a suitable material for adsorption of uranium from nitrate media and applying on real sample from uranium purification unit.