Skip to main content

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Environ. Chem.
Sec. Sorption Technologies
Volume 5 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fenvc.2024.1445482
This article is part of the Research Topic Contemporary and Emerging Developments in Radionuclide Removal from Wastewater View all articles

Superparamagnetically modified A-type, X-type and CHA-type zeolites with silica-coated Fe 3 O 4 and CoFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles for removal of Sr 2+ and Cs + from radioactively contaminated water

Provisionally accepted
Joseph Hriljac Joseph Hriljac 1,2*Azusa Ito Azusa Ito 2,3*Gnanavel Thirunavukkarasu Gnanavel Thirunavukkarasu 2
  • 1 Diamond Light Source (United Kingdom), Didcot, United Kingdom
  • 2 University of Birmingham, Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
  • 3 Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Funaishikawa, Ibaraki, Japan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Magnetised zeolite A, zeolite X and Na,K-CHA composites with superparamagnetic nanoparticles of SiO 2 -coated Fe 3 O 4 or CoFe 2 O 4 ferrite spinels were prepared, characterised and tested for ion exchange efficacy. They were synthesised by following three steps, synthesising Fe 3 O 4 and CoFe 2 O 4 nanoparticles by a solvothermal method, coating the metal oxide particles with SiO 2 by a sol-gel process, and attaching the M x O y /SiO 2 onto the zeolites during synthesis. The magnetic zeolites were characterised by X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry and both scanning and transmission electron microscopy. It was confirmed they had superparamagnetic properties due to successful attachment of the M x O y /SiO 2 particles onto the zeolites. Adsorption capacities of Sr 2+ onto the magnetic zeolite A and zeolite X and Cs + onto the magnetic Na,K-CHA were also evaluated. The results show the M x O y /SiO 2 did not block the adsorption sites of the zeolites and the M x O y /SiO 2 particles were not detached from the zeolites during the adsorption experiments.

    Keywords: zeolite, ion exchange, Magnetic separation, superparamagnetism, Cs removal, Sr removal

    Received: 07 Jun 2024; Accepted: 14 Aug 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Hriljac, Ito and Thirunavukkarasu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Joseph Hriljac, Diamond Light Source (United Kingdom), Didcot, United Kingdom
    Azusa Ito, Japan Atomic Energy Agency, Funaishikawa, Ibaraki, Japan

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.