Alkali-treated cellulose fibers for U(VI) separation and enrichment

The present research work presents the study of cost effective cellulose fibers as sorbent for the U(VI) removal from nuclear wastewaters. Alkali-treated cellulose fibers (ATCFs) were extracted from alkaline peroxide mechanical pulp board by using CH₃COOH and NaOH treatment. Sorption capability was ascertained by conducting batch experiments. The kinetic sorption of U(VI) on ATCFs could be described by the pseudo-second-order rate equation well. The results demonstrated that the sorption of U(VI) to ATCFs was strongly dependent of pH and weakly dependent of ionic strength. U(VI) sorption on ATCFs was mainly dominated by the outer-sphere complexation. (author)