Stabilizing decontamination foam using surface-modified silica nanoparticles containing chemical reagent: foam stability, structures, and dispersion properties.

The stabilization of decontamination foams containing a chemical reagent is a crucial requirement for their use in the decontamination of nuclear power plants. We have investigated the effects on decontamination foam stability of adding silica nanoparticles (NPs) modified with various functional groups, namely propyl (-CH3), amine (-NH2), and thiol (-SH) groups. The surface properties of these silica NPs were characterized with ATR-FTIR, solid NMR, and TGA analyses. We also established that the agglomeration in such foams of the amine-modified silica NPs is weaker than that of the other modified silica NPs due to their thorough dispersion in the liquid film. Further, the foam containing amine-modified silica NPs was found to be stable for 60 min at a pH of 2, i.e. under decontamination conditions. The bubble structure analysis showed that this decontamination foam has a bubble count that is approximately 5-8 times higher than the foams containing NPs modified with the other functional groups, which indicates that the decontamination foam with amine-modified silica NPs has the best foam structure of the three investigated foams. The well-dispersed and smaller amine-modified silica NPs enhance the foam stability by providing a barrier between the gas bubbles and delaying their coalescence. In contrast, the thiol- and propyl-modified silica NPs form aggregates with large diameters that reduce the maximum capillary pressure of coalescence and hence decrease the foam stability.

The surface modification and characterization of SiO2 nanoparticles for higher foam stability.

The surfactant and colloidal nanoparticles has been considered for various applications because of interaction of both complex mixtures. The hydrophilic SiO2 nanoparticle could not be surface active behavior at the liquid/air interface. In this study, the SiO2 nanoparticles have been modified with 3-isocyanatopropyltriethoxy-silane (ICP), and the effect of foam stability has been investigated. The physical properties of surface modified SiO2 nanoparticle were analyzed by XRD, TGA, FT-IR, and SEM. After surface modification of SiO2 nanoparticles, the contact angle of SiO2 nanoparticle was also increased from 62° to 82° with increased ICP concentration. The experimental result has shown that SiO2 nanoparticle with ICP was positive effect and improved foam stability could be obtained at proper ICP concentration compared with un-modified SiO2 nanoparticle.

Selenate removal by zero-valent iron in oxic condition: the role of Fe(II) and selenate removal mechanism.

In this study, batch experiments were conducted to investigate the effect of the concentration of ferrous [Fe(II)] ions on selenate [Se(VI)] removal using zero-valent iron (ZVI). The mechanism of removal was investigated using spectroscopic and image analyses of the ZVI-Fe(II)-Se(VI) system. The test to remove 50 mg/L of Se(VI) by 1 g/L of ZVI resulted in about 60% removal of Se(VI) in the case with absence of Fe(II), but other tests with the addition of 50 and 100 mg/L of the Fe(II) had increased the removal efficiencies about 93 and 100% of the Se(VI), respectively. In other batch tests with the absence of ZVI, there were little changes on the Se(VI) removal by the varied concentration of the Fe(II). From these results, we found that Fe(II) ion plays an accelerator for the reduction of Se(VI) by ZVI with the stoichiometric balance of 1.4 (=nFe(2+)/nSe(6+)). Under anoxic conditions, the batch test revealed about 10% removal of the Se(VI), indicating that the presence of dissolved oxygen increased the kinetics of Se(VI) removal due to the Fe(II)-containing oxides on the ZVI, as analyzed by scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The X-ray absorption near edge spectroscopy (XANES) and extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectra also showed that the reductive process of Se(VI) to Se(0)/Se(-II) occurred in the presence of the both ZVI and Fe(II). The final product of iron corrosion was lepidocrocite (γ-FeOOH), which acts as an electron transfer barrier from Fe(0) core to Se(VI). Therefore, the addition of Fe(II) enhanced the reactivity of ZVI through the formation of iron oxides (magnetite) favoring electron transfer during the removal of Se(VI), which was through the exhaustion of the Fe(0) core reacted with Se(VI).

Kinetic study for phenol degradation by ZVI-assisted Fenton reaction and related iron corrosion investigated by X-ray absorption spectroscopy.

In this study, we investigated phenol degradation via zero-valent iron (ZVI)-assisted Fenton reaction through kinetic and spectroscopic analysis. In batch experiments, 100 mg/L of phenol was completely degraded, and 75% of TOC was removed within 3 min under an optimal hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) concentration (50 mM) via the Fenton reaction. In the absence of H2O2, oxygen (O2) was dissolved into the solution and produced H2O2, which resulted in phenol degradation. However, phenol removal efficiency was not very high compared to external H2O2 input. The Fenton reaction rapidly occurred at the surface of ZVI, and then phenol mobility from the solution to the ZVI surface was the rate determining step of the whole reaction. The pseudo-second order adsorption kinetic model well describes phenol removal, and its rate increased according to the H2O2 concentration. X-ray absorption spectroscopic analysis revealed that iron oxide (Fe-O bonding) was formed on ZVI with [H2O2] > 50 mM. A high concentration of H2O2 led to rapid degradation of phenol and caused corrosion on the ZVI surface, indicating that Fe(2+) ions were rapidly oxidized to Fe(3+) ions due to the Fenton reaction and that Fe(3+) was precipitated as iron oxide on the ZVI surface. However, ZVI did not show corroded characteristics in the absence of H2O2 due to the insufficient ZVI-assisted Fenton reaction and oxidation of Fe(2+) to Fe(3+).

Volatility and leachability of heavy metals and radionuclides in thermally treated HEPA filter media generated from nuclear facilities.

The purpose of the present study was to apply thermal treatments to reduce the volume of HEPA filter media and to investigate the volatility and leachability of heavy metals and radionuclides during thermal treatment. HEPA filter media were transformed to glassy bulk material by thermal treatment at 900°C for 2h. The most abundant heavy metal in the HEPA filter media was Zn, followed by Sr, Pb and Cr, and the main radionuclide was Cs-137. The volatility tests showed that the heavy metals and radionuclides in radioactive HEPA filter media were not volatilized during the thermal treatment. PCT tests indicated that the leachability of heavy metals and radionuclides was relatively low compared to those of other glasses. XRD results showed that Zn and Cs reacted with HEPA filter media and were transformed into crystalline willemite (ZnO·SiO(2)) and pollucite (Cs(2)OAl(2)O(3)4SiO(2)), which are not volatile or leachable. The proposed technique for the volume reduction and transformation of radioactive HEPA filter media into glassy bulk material is a simple and energy efficient procedure without additives that can be performed at relatively low temperature compared with conventional vitrification process.