Removal of Radionuclides Using Green Chemistry: Precipitation of Strontium by Polygalacturonic Acid for Potential Treatment of Radioactive Waste
Abstract
Nuclear facilities produce waste water streams that contain a multitude of radionuclides that need to be removed and stored away. We evaluated the potential that naturally-occurring polysaccharides could precipitate some of these radionuclides and as such provide an environment-friendly procedure to clean up such waste streams. We focused primarily on the precipitation of Sr2+. We tested a broad range of polysaccharides and found that the class of polyuronides was capable of precipitating a wide range of divalent cations, including Sr2+. Within this category of polysaccharides, modest results were obtained with pectin and alginate, but extensive precipitations were obtained when using polygalacturonic acid. Focusing primarily on Sr2+, we evaluated the effects of the polysaccharide and cation concentration, temperature, pH, presence of other cations, etc. on the capacity of polygalacturonic acid to precipitate this cation. We determined that 1 mg of polygalacturonic acid precipitates about 0.2mg Sr2+.
Subject Area
Inorganic chemistry|Environmental science
Recommended Citation
Charles E Champion,
"Removal of Radionuclides Using Green Chemistry: Precipitation of Strontium by Polygalacturonic Acid for Potential Treatment of Radioactive Waste"
(2012).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI1510428.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI1510428