Uranium (VI) sorption on colloidal magnetite under anoxic environment: experimental study and surface complexation modelling

Abstract

Magnetite is one of the most important end member of iron corrosion products under a reducing environment; therefore, it may be one of the first products interacting with radionuclides in a radioactive waste disposal after the canister failure. Nanocrystalline magnetite was synthetised in the laboratory and its main physico-chemical properties (microstructure, surface area, surface charge) were analysed. The stability of the oxide was also investigated under the experimental conditions used in sorption studies. The sorption behaviour of U VI onto magnetite was analysed under O 2- and CO 2-free conditions in a wide range of pH, ionic strengths and radionuclide concentrations. The uranyl binding to magnetite is characterised by a sorption edge between pH 4 and 5.5, and sorption was found to be independent on the electrolyte concentration, which indicates the formation of inner sphere complexes. The sorption isotherms showed a linear behaviour up to the saturation of the sorption sites with a Langmuir-type behaviour. One of the aims of this work was to find the simplest model capable to reproduce the experimental data. Sorption data were fitted using a classical approximation (diffuse double layer model), considering only one type of surface site and evaluating two different options: the first one involving two different monodentate complexes, and the second one a single binuclear bidentate complex. A highly satisfactory fit of the experimental data was obtained by both approaches in the range of the experimental conditions investigated.