Radiocesium removal system for environmental water and drainage

Abstract

With the development of the nuclear power generation, it is expected that severe pollution of environmental water by radiocesium (r-Cs) may occur. We developed a r-Cs removal system with a continuous stirring tank reactor (CSTR) and r-Cs adsorbent of non-woven fiber immobilizing Prussian blue nanoparticles (PBN). Results confirmed that this system can remove r-Cs from environmental water with a removal rate higher than 80% at processing speed of 2 m³/h. In this study, the processing speed and processing capacity of this system were confirmed using kinetic and equilibrium analyses of Cs adsorption behavior on PBN. The equilibrium of Cs adsorption was analyzed using a Langmuir equation. Results show that the maximum adsorption capacity was 160 mg/g (PBN). The kinetic data were well fitted using a pseudo-first order kinetic model. This rate constant was correlated to the PBN/liquid ratio in the system.

Keywords: Adsorbent; Cesium; Complete mixing reactor; Decontamination process; Non-woven fiber; Prussian blue.