Modified Amberlite IR120 by Magnetic Nano Iron-Oxide for Uranium Removal

Abstract A magnetic sorbent nano-iron oxide (Fe3O4 ) modified Amberlite (IR120) resin (Fe-MA) was prepared. Fe3O4 and Fe-MA resin were characterized by Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images and the energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Fe-MA sorption efficiency towards UO 2+ ion has been investigated in batch and column modes. The highly efficiency in batch mode toward UO 2+ ion was observed at pH=3.5 and at contact time=60 min. The data obtained from the batch results reveal that, the equilibrium isotherm and kinetics study were described by both Langmuir isotherm model and pseudo-second-order kinetic. On the other side, the highly efficiency in column mode toward UO 2+ ion was observed to increase at initial concentration 9.55 mmol/L, bed height 15 mm and flow rate 2.7 ml/min. Thomas and Yoon-Nelson models were applied in column mode with regression coefficients R2 range from 0.978 to 0.997 at different conditions. The data obtained in the column mode reveals that, the interfering cations La(III), Ce(III), and Th(IV) can be separated from uranyl UO 2+ ion by using different concentrations of nitric acid eluant. Keywords: UraniumSorptionKineticsThomas modelYoon–Nelson model