Performance of phosphoric acid activated montmorillonite as buffer materials for radioactive waste repository.

In this study, the performance of phosphoric acid activated montmorillonite (PAmmt) was evaluated by cesium ions adsorption experiments. The PAmmt samples were obtained by activating with 1, 3 and 5 mol L(-1) of phosphoric acid, respectively under reflux for 3, 12, and 24h. Experimental results demonstrated that the treatment of raw K-10 montmorillonite with phosphoric acid increased the materials' affinity for Cs uptake and no significant amount of suspension solids were produced. A relatively insignificant variation in the CEC value was observed. Furthermore, PAmmt also showed high adsorption selectivity toward Cs ions. The improved sorptive properties were mainly related to the increased surface area and the relatively higher surface charge density. Increased specific surface area was the resulted from partial decomposition of lamellar structure of mmt; while the higher surface charge density was caused by the protonation of octahedral Al-OH sites during the acid activation. Generally speaking, stronger acid concentration and longer activation times would produce relatively more decomposed PAmmt particles. However, as the activation exceeds 3h, the precipitation of Si(4+) would passivate PAmmt against further acid attacks. Based upon our results, acid activation by phosphoric acid could produce PAmmt samples with high sorption capacity and selectivity, and good structural integrity, which are beneficial to be used at radioactive waste repository.

Effect of alkyl properties and head groups of cationic surfactants on retention of cesium by organoclays.

Cationic surfactants modified clays exhibit high sorptive capability toward anionic radionuclides but retention of cationic radionuclides was concurrently reduced. In this study, organoclays were synthesized by intercalating a variety of primary/quaternary alkylammonium species (NH(2)R/(CH(3))(3)N(+)RBr(-), where R = benzyl, dodecyl, and octadecyl) into bentonite MX-80. The effect of surfactant's properties on enhancing or limiting cationic sorption capability was investigated by performing Cs sorption experiments. Experimental results were analyzed using the MINEQL+ software by considering Cs uptake by structural and edge sorption sites. Bentonites that were intercalated with primary alkylammonium surfactants had a higher sorptive capacity than those intercalated with quaternary alkylammonium surfactants. Samples intercalated with octadecyl-bearing surfactants had the lowest sorption rate. XRD and FTIR analyses revealed that each organoclay had a characteristic arrangement of alkyl chains. The cation retention of organoclays was dominated by the extent of hydrophobic interactions affected by the local distribution and arrangement of surfactants. The intercalated primary alkylammoniun surfactants tended to transform into local clusters with a high packing density, leaving more structural sites available for Cs uptake. In contrast, the NH(3)R(+)-surfactants tended to form a denser monolayer over clay surface, inhibiting the retention of Cs at structural sites.