Proficiency of some synthetic alginate derivatives for sequestration of Iodine-131 from radioactive liquid waste.

The current effort in environmental remediation is aimed at removing iodine-131 radionuclide from radioactive liquid waste produced by an Egyptian nuclear power plant using some synthesised alginate derivatives. Two different copolymers, namely sodium alginate poly (acrylic acid) (P1) and sodium alginate poly (acrylic acid-methacrylic acid) (P2), are prepared using gamma radiation. The ability of these polymers to remove 131I radionuclide as sorbents has been investigated. The synthesised polymers exhibit excellent adsorption performance for 131I ions, and the adsorption equilibrium requires only 30 min, which reveals that the sorption process is kinetically faster than most of the other materials reported previously. The removal percents for 131I radionuclide at a pH of 3.0 at room temperature on P1 and P2 are 77.7% and 84.2%, respectively. The sorption capacities of the two polymers demonstrate that P2 > P1, with capacities of 67.9 and 58.5 mg/g, respectively. Four linear kinetic models are investigated: pseudo-first order, pseudo-second order, Elovich, and Weber-Morris models. Regarding their calculated parameters, these models indicate that the adsorption process of I-ions on both P1 and P2 is controlled by chemisorption. Four equilibrium isotherm models (Redlich-Peterson, Langmuir, Freundlich, and Harkin-Jura) are investigated, revealing that the adsorption process is a monolayer and multilayer process on a heterogeneous surface.

Characterization of phosphogypsum wastes associated with phosphoric acid and fertilizers production.

The present work is directed to characterize the phosphogypsum (PG) wastes associated with phosphoric acid produced by the wet process in industrial facility for the production of fertilizers and chemicals in Egypt. The PG waste samples were characterized in terms of spectroscopic analysis (X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, IR spectra) and radiometric analysis (gamma- and alpha-measurements). The gamma-ray measurements showed that the average activity concentrations are 140+/-12.6, 459+/-36.7, 323+/-28.4, 8.3+/-0.76 and 64.3+/-4.1 Bq/kg for U-238, Ra-226, Pb-210, Th-232 and K-40, respectively. The alpha-particle measurements of uranium isotopes showed that the average activity concentrations of U-238, U-235 and U-234 were 153+/-9.8, 7+/-0.38, 152+/-10.4 Bq/kg, respectively. The average radiochemical recovery (%) of the destructive alpha-particle measurements is approximately 70% with a resolution (FWHM) of approximately 30 keV. Activity ratios of U-238/Ra-226 and U-238/Pb-210 were less than unity (i.e., <1) and equal to 0.31+/-0.02 and 0.47+/-0.16, respectively. The isotopic ratios of U-238/U-235 and U-238/U-234 (in PG and PR samples) were close to the normal values of approximately 21.7 and approximately 1, respectively and are not affected by the wet processing of phosphate rock (PR). The obtained results of PG waste samples were compared with phosphate rock (PR) samples. The radiation hazard indices are namely, radium activity index (Ra-Eq>370 Bq/kg), total absorbed gamma dose rate (D(gamma r)>5 nGy/h) and radon emanation fraction (Rn-EF>20%). Uncertainty of the sample counting was 95% confidence level of sigma. The results indicated the necessity to find suitable routes to decrease and/or redistribute the radionuclide of environmental interest (i.e., Ra-226) in PG wastes, consequently to reduce its radiation impacts in the surrounding environment.

Modeling of gadolinium recovery from nitrate medium with 8-hydroxyquinoline by emulsion liquid membrane.

The extraction equilibrium of Gd(III) from nitrate medium by 8-hydroxyquinoline (HOX) in toluene was studied. Liquid-liquid investigations were first carried out. Based on the equilibrium results, the extraction of Gd(III) from aqueous nitrate medium into an emulsion liquid membrane system (ELM) containing 8-hydroxyquinoline in toluene as extractant, HNO(3) as stripping solution, Span-80 as surfactant was studied. The stability of the prepared ELM was studied in terms of the degree of membrane breakage. The different parameters affecting the permeation of gadolinium (III) were also studied. A general permeation model for the recovery of Gd(III) by the selected membrane is presented. The internal mass transfer in the water in oil (W/O) emulsion drop, the external mass transfer around the drop, the rates of formation and decomposition of the complex at the external aqueous-organic interface were considered.