Peats and Ferrites for Heavy Metal Removal

摘要

Peat is a relatively inexpensive material which processes a native cation exchange capacity. Efforts to utilize peat have been hampered by its low permeability to water and its tendency to severely leach in water at pH>6. These disadvantages have been significantly minimized by treating the peat with concentrated sulfuric acid. The acid treatment also increases the cation exchange capacity of the peat. Results of both column batch studies of the modified peat for use as an actinide adsorbent will be presented. Ferrites are mixed valence iron compounds having metal sorptive and magnetic properties. A naturally occurring ferrite material is magnetite. We have studied activation techniques to give magnetite a high capacity for removing heavy metals and actinides from aqueous process waste solutions. The solution can then be magnetically filtered to removal magnetite sorbed metals from solution. Results of the experiments will be described. 18 refs. (ERA citation 11:037622)