Uranium sorption onto activated carbon prepared from rice straw: Competition with humic acids

Adsorptive competition between uranium (VI) and humic acids (HA) was investigated using Rice Straw activated carbon modified with KOH (RSK carbon). The investigations were conducted for individual components adsorption along with simultaneous and sequential adsorption of both components. The experimental results showed that the equilibrium data fit well Langmuir equation. It was found that, for single component system, RSK carbon can achieve adsorption of U(VI) ion at 100 mg/g, and HA at 21.1 mg/g, respectively. Adsorption isotherms for multi-component systems were studied. U(VI) showed a decreased adsorbability when it coexisted with HA from the start (41.5 mg/g in simultaneous) compared with the case when U(VI) was added after equilibrium adsorption of HA on activated carbon (11.9 mg/g in sequential). The interactions between uranium ions and HA caused the formation of U–HA complexes that changed the surface interactions of both uranium ions and HA with carbon surface. The underlying mechanism of the difference in the uranium sorption was discussed in the view of absence and presences (sequential and Simultaneous) of HA. It could be concluded that, humic substance is strong inhibitor of uranium binding and should be removed before from waste water treatment for uranium.