A nappies management by-product for the treatment of uranium-contaminated waters

Ioannis Anastopoulos; Jelena V Milojković; Konstantina Tsigkou; Constantina Zafiri; Zorica R Lopičić; Michael Kornaros; Ioannis Pashalidis

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124147

A nappies management by-product for the treatment of uranium-contaminated waters

J Hazard Mater. 2021 Feb 15;404(Pt A):124147. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124147. Epub 2020 Oct 2.

Authors

Ioannis Anastopoulos¹, Jelena V Milojković², Konstantina Tsigkou³, Constantina Zafiri⁴, Zorica R Lopičić², Michael Kornaros³, Ioannis Pashalidis⁵

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Radioanalytical and Environmental Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, Cy-1678 Nicosia, Cyprus. Electronic address: anastopoulos_ioannis@windowslive.com.
² Institute for Technology of Nuclear and Other Mineral Raw Materials, 86 Franchet d'Esperey St., Belgrade, Serbia.
³ Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering and Environmental Technology (LBEET), Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Patras, University Campus, Patras 26504, Greece.
⁴ Green Technologies Ltd, 5 Ellinos Stratiotou Str., Patras 26223, Greece.
⁵ Laboratory of Radioanalytical and Environmental Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Cyprus, P.O. Box 20537, Cy-1678 Nicosia, Cyprus.

PMID: 33059251
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2020.124147

Abstract

The direct disposal of municipal solid waste such as nappies to the environment may create serious pollution problems. Based on the circular economy and waste management concepts, the conversion of nappies and/or their ingredients (such as super absorbent polymer (SAP)) to high added value products is of great importance. In this work, a modified SAP (MSAP) was examined as an adsorbent for treatment of contaminated waters and uranium recovery. Batch experiments and spectroscopic techniques were used to examine the effect of various parameters (pH, contact time, temperature, initial concentration, and ionic strength), and the mechanism of adsorption U(VI) and desorption process. The U(VI) concentration was determined by alpha spectroscopy after addition of ²³²U standard tracer solution to account for possible interferences during electrodeposition and alpha particle counting. The maximum adsorption monolayer capacity was found to be 217.4 mg/g at pH 4.0 and at 298 K. The adsorption of U(VI) on MSAP seems to occur mainly via the formation of inner-sphere surface complexes between U(VI) and the carboxylic surface moieties of MSAP. The MSAP could satisfactorily be regenerated with 0.1 M Na₂CO₃ (>90%) and it also shows a promising applicability to real wastewaters contaminated with U(VI).

Keywords: Adsorption modelling; Isotherms; Modified super absorbent polymer; Nappies; Uranium; Waste management.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't