Prussian blue immobilized cellulosic filter for the removal of aqueous cesium

Hyowon Kim; Hyobin Wi; Sungwon Kang; Sunho Yoon; Sungjun Bae; Yuhoon Hwang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.234

Prussian blue immobilized cellulosic filter for the removal of aqueous cesium

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Jun 20:670:779-788. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.234. Epub 2019 Mar 18.

Authors

Hyowon Kim¹, Hyobin Wi², Sungwon Kang³, Sunho Yoon⁴, Sungjun Bae⁴, Yuhoon Hwang⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, 232 Gongneung-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01811, Republic of Korea.
² Department of Materials and Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University, 1 Gwanak-ro, Gwanak-gu, Seoul 08826, Republic of Korea.
³ Department of Land, Water and Environment Research, Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, 283 Goyang-daero, Ilsanseo-gu, Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do 10223, Republic of Korea.
⁴ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Konkuk University, 120 Neungdong-ro, Gwangjin-gu, Seoul 05029, Republic of Korea.
⁵ Department of Environmental Engineering, Seoul National University of Science and Technology, 232 Gongneung-ro, Nowon-gu, Seoul 01811, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: yhhwang@seoultech.ac.kr.

PMID: 30921711
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.234

Abstract

Cesium is a typical radioisotope that has a long half-life and is dangerous and can be emitted in the event of a nuclear accident. Prussian blue (PB), which is known to effectively adsorb cesium, is difficult to separate when it is dissolved in an aqueous system. In this study, PB was immobilized on a filter type support media, cellulose filter (CF), for use as a selective material for cesium adsorption. The commercially available CF was functionalized by the addition of acrylic acid (AA) (i.e., CF-AA) to enhance the PB immobilization, which increased both PB loading and binding strength. The AA functionalization changed the major functional groups from hydroxyl to carboxylic, as confirmed by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. As a result of the surface modification, the PB immobilization increased 1.5 times and reduced detachment of PB during washing. The prepared adsorbent, CF-AA-PB, was tested for its cesium adsorption capability. Cesium adsorption equilibrated within 3 h, and the maximum cesium adsorption capacity was 16.66 mg/g. The observed decrease in the solution pH during cesium adsorption inhibited the overall cesium uptake; however, this was minimized by buffering. The prepared CF-AA-PB was used as a filter material and its potential use as a countermeasure for removing radioactive cesium from a contaminated water stream was demonstrated.

Keywords: Adsorption; Cellulose filter; Cesium; Immobilization; Nuclear accident; Prussian blue.