Silico antimonate nanocomposite material: I- preparation, characterization and its application for separation of strontium and rubidium from aqueous solutions

Sorption of Sr(II) and/or Rb(I) onto synthesised silico antimonate (SiSb) nanocomposite was investigated in this work, using batch equilibrium and column techniques. SiSb was fabricated by precipitation technique and characterised by various analytical tools. The adsorption of Sr(II) and/or Rb(I) includes the influence of shaking time, distribution coefficient, kinetics, capacity, and column separation. The data prove that SiSb has a quick equilibrium time (40 min), the distribution coefficients (Kd) as a function of pH have maximum separation factors (αRbSr) equal to 162.1 at pH 6, reaction kinetics follow a pseudo-second-order model, sorption capacity for Sr(II) and Rb(I) is 48.5 and 13.8 mg/g, respectively. Column data reveal that Sr(II) can be loaded and separated from Sr(II)-Rb(I) as a simulation model for Sr(II) recovery from its Sr(II)-Rb(I) system using different concentrations of HNO3 as eluent.