Controlled reprocessing of leucoxene concentrate for environmental friendly production of titanosilicate – An effective sorbent for strontium and cesium ions

An environmentally friendly synthesis procedure of titanosilicate with sitinakite structure from quartz-leucoxene concentrates processing products for effective sorption of strontium and cesium ions has been designed. The proposed method minimizes the environmental impact by controlling the acidity of waste waters and reuse of fluorammonium component in the technological process of enrichment (fluorination) of mineral raw materials. The sitinakite synthesis procedure excludes the stage of additional mechanical activation of quartz-leucoxene concentrate using complex and energy-consuming equipment. The precipitate composition and formation of SiO2-TiOn complex aggregates is controlled through step-by-step hydrolysis of dissolved forms of compounds. The new approach reduces sitinakite synthesis temperature and allows regulating composition, crystallinity and sorption properties of titanosilicate. The sorption capacity of the obtained sitinakite by Sr2+ and Cs+ cations is 120 and 170 mg/g, respectively, and does not decrease when its crystallinity changes.