Uranium (mainly from nuclear waste) removal and recovery from aqueous media have recently gained significant attention due to severe health issues related to chronic exposure. It can tend to be expensive to recover and reuse. Critical waste management is needed for both safe waste disposal and recycling. In this work commercial, high surface area Douglas fir biochar variant was decorated with iron oxide (DFMBC) using a pre-optimized chemical co-precipitation method. Material’s U(VI) sorption was tested varying the initial pH (1-13), equilibrium time (0-180 mins), and in complex matrices. The highest sorption capacity (∼45 mg/g) was attained at pH 5-7. The main U(VI) species that adsorb in this pH range is (UO2)4(OH)7+. Leached iron amounts were negligible in the post sorption mixtures. The removal rate was exceptional, and the equilibria were attained in &lt;2 mins for 100 ppb, 1 ppm, and 10 ppm concentrations. Kinetics data were fitted onto the pseudo 2nd order model. The sorption from complex lake water matrices was robust in most cases (&gt;75% removal) (for 5, 50, and 100 ppm spiked U(VI) concentrations). Current data suggest that DFMBC has the potential to treat low to moderate concentrations of U(VI) from aqueous solutions.

Rapid adsorptive removal of low to moderation concentrations of Uranium(VI) using Douglas fir biochar magnetic variant

ACS Fall 2021

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