Zeolites were used in this study to remove two types of non-radioactive ions (Cobalt-59 and Strontium-89) from wastewater. This was designed to model the use of ion-exchange technique to remove radioactive Co-60 and Sr-90 from low level wastewater from Al-Tuwaitha site. Al-Tuwaitha site is a nuclear research in Iraq was used for radio-medical and radio-chemical purposes before 1990. In this study, hierarchical microporous/macroporous structures were developed to overcome the diffusivity problem using zeolite. Diatomite and carbon were used to prepare the composite adsorbents by incorporating them with three types of zeolites (A, Y and clinoptilolite). From the XRD, SEM and EDAX measurement it was confirmed that successfully prepared of Iraqi palm tree leafs-Clinoptlolite (IPClinp) and Tamarind stones-Clinoptilolite (TSClinp) composites were obtained in this study as there is no evidence in literature of this being carried out before. The carbons were prepared successfully through the Pyrolysis method for 2h at 900°C in an inert atmosphere from two types of raw waste plant materials of Iraqi Palm Tree leafs (IP) and Tamarind stones (TS). For both types of carbons, the SEM images show organised porosities in different shapes. A third material used as a zeolite scaffold was diatomite (Celatom FW-14) a readily available natural material (dead algae).A hydrothermal treatment was used to build the hierarchical structure of zeolite onto carbon and diatomite materials, the scaffolds were seeded with nano-zeolite crystals prior to the treatment and thereafter mixed with the zeolite gel composition mixture in a stainless steel autoclave. Zeolite seeds were prepared using ball mill method to reduce the particle size of the commercial zeolite to sub-micron range for each type of zeolite. The surface area, morphology, element compositions and structure for each type of zeolite and composite material were characterised using BET method, SEM, EDAX and XRD. The amounts of each type of zeolite on the carbon composites were determined using TGA while that of the diatomite composite was determined by gravimetric analysis. The results show that each type of zeolite was successfully deposited and uniformly organised onto the surface of all support materials. All pure zeolites and composite materials were successfully tested to remove Co2+ and Sr2+ ions from aqueous solutions. It was found that the composite materials had higher ability to remove both ions relative to the pure zeolites. This increase is attributed to the deposition of zeolite (microporous) onto the macroporous structure (carbon and diatomite) which increased the flow accessibility within zeolite in the hierarchical structured composites. Comparison of the removal between the two metal ions indicates that all of the materials had higher uptake for Sr2+ than Co2+ ions. The highest adsorption capacities were realised with Tamarind Stone–ZeoliteA (TSA) in the order 120mg.gz-1and 290mg.gz-1 for Co2+ and Sr2+ ions, respectively. The effect of the experimental variables shows increasing uptake with increasing pH and initial ion concentrations while it decreased with increasing the solution temperature. The Co2+ loaded composites was subjected to vitrification process at 12000C for 2h. The encapsulated composites were leached for 90 and 120 days and no significant Co2+ was recorded in the leached solution. The results show that the composite materials can be used effectively to remove the radioactive ion of Co-60 and Sr-90 ion as they display the same chemical behaviour as Co-59 and Sr-89 studied in this work.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:607110 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Al-Nasri, Salam Khudhair Abdullah |
| Contributors | Holmes, Stuart |
| Publisher | University of Manchester |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | https://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/treatment-of-wastewater-containing-cobalt-co59-and-strontium-sr89-as-a-model-to-remove-radioactive-co60-and-sr90-using-hierarchical-structures-incorporating-zeolitesa(ff5cff3e-1366-4a35-9b15-0246811d6ad1).html |
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