Study of adsorption and immobilization of Cs+, Sr2+, Co2+, Pb2+, La3+ ions on Na-Faujasite zeolite transformed in solid state matrices

Abstract

Zeolites have become promising adsorbents for wastewater treatment due to their enhanced adsorption capacity, stability of crystalline structure, high porosity and surface area. One of the primary goals of our study was to assess the effectiveness of employing NaY zeolite as a sorbent and potential solid matrix for immobilizing radionuclides. In this study NaY faujasite zeolite was obtained by hydrothermal synthesis and characterized by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), N2 adsorption–desorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) methods. The prepared zeolite had NaY faujasite crystalline structure, characterized by developed surface area (370 m2/g) with micro-mesoporous structure, and spherical-like morphology with particles of 1–4 μm in diameter. The isotherms adsorption modeling on Cs+, Sr2+, Co2+, Pb2+ and La3+ ions was performed. The isotherm well described by Langmuir equation with maximum adsorption capacity of q(Cs+) = 1,9 mmol/g, q(Sr2+) = 3,75 mmol/g, q(Co2+) = 1,82 mmol/g, q(Pb2+) = 2,54 mmol/g, q(La3+) = 3,83 mmol/g. Thermal behavior of metal-saturated adsorbents by differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermal gravimetric (TG) techniques was studied. Each metal examined in this paper is responsible for the stable formation of radionuclides (137Cs, 90Sr, 60Co, La - generally, the group of active lanthanides was modelled, Pb - uranium fission residues) that are generated during the operation of nuclear power plants. To optimize sintering regimes, it has been proposed to achieve sorption saturation of stable ions such as Cs, Sr, Co, La, and Pb and transfer them into solid matrices. It was shown that the consolidation temperature for the obtained samples varies in the range of 935–1040 °C.