Investigation of adsorption of thorium from aqueous solutions using XAD-7 resin impregnated with a mixture of phosphate compounds in a batch system

Sid Kalal, Hossein; Asadi, Somayeh; Zare- Shahabadi, Vahid; Mousavi, Seyed Ebrahim; Almasian, Mohammad Reza; Khanchi, َAlireza; Taghiof, Mohammad

Investigation of adsorption of thorium from aqueous solutions using XAD-7 resin impregnated with a mixture of phosphate compounds in a batch system

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Hossein Sid Kalal ¹

Somayeh Asadi ²

Vahid Zare- Shahabadi ²

Seyed Ebrahim Mousavi ³

Mohammad Reza Almasian ⁴

َAlireza Khanchi ⁵

Mohammad Taghiof ⁴

¹ Nuclear Fuel Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, AEOI, P.O. Box 11365-3486, Tehran, Iran.

² Department of Chemical Engineering, Mahshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University

³ Master student, School of Chemical Engineering, college of engineering, university of Tehran

⁴ School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, AEOI, P.O. Box 11365-3486, Tehran, Iran

⁵ School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute, AEOI, P.O. Box 11365-3486, Tehran, Ira

Abstract

In this study, thorium ions were adsorbed in a batch system by Amberlite XAD-7 ion exchange resin impregnated with phosphate compounds such as TOPO (tri-octylphosphine oxide) and T2EHP (tri-2-ethylhexyl phosphate). The effect of important parameters on the adsorption process such as pH, time, temperature and the presence of interfering ions, as well as the effect of appropriate detergent on desorption, was investigated and evaluated. Thermodynamic relationships and several isothermal adsorption models including Freundlich, Redlich-Peterson, Langmuir and Temkin were investigated to describe the adsorption equilibrium. The structure of the modified adsorbent was investigated by infrared (IR) spectroscopy and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) methods. Based on the results obtained from the tests of thorium adsorption on XAD-7 resins impregnated with phosphate compounds, it was concluded that the adsorption reaction is a spontaneous (negative Gibbs free energy changes) and an exothermic process (negative enthalpy changes). Among the isothermal adsorption models, the nonlinear Redlich-Peterson model had the best result at 35 °C.

Keywords

“Adsorption”

“XAD-7”

“Impregnation”

“Phosphate compounds”