Sorbent Removes Hazardous Radionuclides from Industrial Water
Researchers at the Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) and the Institute of Chemistry FEB RAS developed a smart technology for producing a sorbent.
The sorbent is based on a tungsten bronze compound powder, also known as Na2WO4.
The sorbent can be used to remove radionuclides strontium and cesium from industrial and drinking water, according to AZO CleanTech. The sorbent can also be used for the processing of liquid radioactive waste.
A paper based on the study has been published in the Journal of Materials Science.
Additionally, the sorbent is well-suited for very high concentrations of these dangerous radioactive elements, ultimately processing liquid radioactive waste in nuclear plants and potentially avoiding the impacts of technological accidents. The waste sorbent can be transformed into high-density ceramics with subsequent safe disposal and if the water sorbent is regenerated, it can serve five or more cycles, according to the researchers.
“We propose to apply a sorbent in several ways. First, in the static version, granules based on tungsten bronze powder can simply be introduced into the volume of contaminated water bodies. Second, in a dynamic mode, porous sorbent tablets can be a component of flow filters,” said Arthur Drankov, Member of the Creative Team and Postgraduate Student, School of Natural Science, Far Eastern Federal University.
The goal is to transform sorption tablets or waste granules to high-density ceramics for further safe disposal during the half-life of dangerous radioactive elements, according to the researchers. In the case of strontium and cesium, the duration is approximately 29 years and 30 years.
The next phase of the study, the researchers will design a transforming-to-ceramics technology, which will be funded by a grant of the Russian Foundation for Basic Research.