Magnetic adsorbents for actinide and heavy metal removal from waste water

摘要

Magnetic adsorbents can be applied to the treatment of waste water in various physical forms. For example, barium ferrite (BaO(center dot)Fe(sub 2)O(sub 3)) has been used successfully as powder, granules or pellets. Iron ferrite, or magnetite, a naturally occurring ore, can also be used in much the same manner. However, natural magnetic needs activation to have the same capacity as freshly prepared ferrite. Furthermore, ferrites have been used solely in a batch mode because of their finely divided nature. To permit utilization of activated magnetite in a column mode with good water flow-through properties, magnetic resins were prepared. In this work, the authors discovered a synergistic effect in using the magnetic resin in a column mode in conjunction with an external magnetic field for concentration of plutonium and americium from waste water. Thus ferrities in a column made surrounded by a magnetic field greatly surpasses the metal removal capacity of ferrite used in a batch mode.