Enrichment of uranium from wastewater with nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI)

The core-shell structure of nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) offers multiplex solution and surface chemistry for reliable and high-efficiency enrichment and separation of uranium from low-level sources such as wastewater, groundwater, and even seawater. In this work, the reduction, enrichment and s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science. Nano 2021-03, Vol.8 (3), p.666-674
Main Authors: Hua, Yilong, Wang, Wei, Hu, Nan, Gu, Tianhang, Ling, Lan, Zhang, Wei-xian
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chemical analysis
Chemical reduction
Continuous flow
Continuously stirred tank reactors
Core-shell structure
Electron microscopy
Enrichment
Groundwater
Iron
Mine tailings
Nanoparticles
Nanotechnology
Ores
Pollution control
Pollution effects
Radioactive wastewaters
Reactors
Resource recovery
Scanning transmission electron microscopy
Seawater
Separation
Surface chemistry
Tailings
Transmission electron microscopy
Uranium
Uranium ores
Wastewater
Wastewater treatment
Water analysis
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Summary:The core-shell structure of nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) offers multiplex solution and surface chemistry for reliable and high-efficiency enrichment and separation of uranium from low-level sources such as wastewater, groundwater, and even seawater. In this work, the reduction, enrichment and separation of uranium from uranium-tailings wastewater were demonstrated in continuous-flow reactors. Specifically, a two-stage continuous flow stirred tank reactor system was operated for 193 h. 497.7 L of radioactive uranium-tailings wastewater containing ∼331 μg U per L was treated with a total of 60.22 g of iron nanoparticles. It produced reacted nZVI containing ∼0.19 wt% uranium, well above typical high-grade uranium ores. The treated wastewater had an average concentration of just 1.47 μg U per L. High-resolution elemental mappings performed with aberration corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (Cs-STEM) indicated that uranium was deposited largely in the core area of the reacted nZVI particles with chemical reduction as the principal enrichment mechanism. Together with our previous work on nZVI, this further offers growing evidence of a cost-effective nanotechnology for simultaneous pollution control and resource recovery. The core-shell structured nZVI not only can separate U( vi ) from tailings wastewater, but also can enrich U in core area. Removal mechanisms include encapsulation, reduction, adsorption and precipitation.
ISSN:2051-8153
2051-8161
DOI:10.1039/d0en01029d