Uranium biosorption by hydroxyapatite and bone meal

• Autor(a) principal: WATANABE, TAMIRES
• Data de Publicação: 2021
• Outros Autores: GUILHEN, SABINE N., MARUMO, JULIO T., ARAUJO, LEANDRO G. de, ENCONTRO BRASILEIRO DE ADSOR????O, 13th
• Tipo de documento: Artigo de conferência
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional do IPEN
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.ipen.br/handle/123456789/32209
• topic: adsorption; uranium; bone tissues; apatites

Biosorption has been widely examined for the treatment of aqueous solutions containing uranium, a radiotoxic pollutant. The use of hydroxyapatite and bone meal as potential biosorbents in the removal of uranium (U) from aqueous solutions has not yet been previously addressed. In this work, the efficiency of these biosorbents in the removal of U was investigated according to their adsorption removal capacities. Surface transformations in both materials were observed after U adsorption by scanning electron microscopy combined with energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM/EDS). The biomass/U solution ratio was kept at 0.1 g/5 mL. Contact times for the batch experiments were 15, 30, 60, 120, and 180 min, and the concentration of U tested was 680 mg L-1. The equilibrium was achieved in less than 15 min for both materials. The morphological characteristics of each biomass, before and after biosorption experiments were analyzed. Bone meal highlighted slightly superior adsorption results in terms of maximum capacity (qmax = 33.83 mg g-1), compared to hydroxyapatite (qmax = 33.36 mg g-1), with the removal percentages being also similar, 99.97 and 98.57 %, respectively. The results so far indicate that these materials are potential biosorbents for the treatment of uranium-contaminated solutions, especially liquid radioactive waste.