Sorption and Desorption of UO2 2+, Th4+, Eu3+, Ru3+ and Fe3+ on the Synthetic Analogue of Nepheline

Sorption and desorption of UO2 2+, Th4+, EU3+, Fe3+ and Ru3+ on the synthetic analogue of nepheline has been carried out. The characteristics of the synthesized gel included XRD, SEM, EDS and TGA and was found to have a chemical composition of [Na4, K (Al4 Si4 016)]. Batch technique was used to carry out the study and the effect of various parameters such as effect of time (3–24 h), sorbent concentration (2–10 g/L), pH (1–9), temperature (30–50 °C), metal ion concentration (0.05– 0.001 M) and effect of competing ions (Na+ , K+ , Mg2+ and Ca2+) were studied. Fast kinetics between the sorbent and sorbate was indicated at the equilibration time of 7h. Sorption was found to be dependent on pH. Sorption was found to be enhanced as the sorbent dose is increased and reduced as the metal ion concentration is increased. Thermodynamic study indicates the endothermic, spontaneous and entropy favourable nature of sorption process. Sorption was found to be reduced with increase in the concentration of competing cations in the suspension. This may be probably due to the competition between these metal ions and the desired metal ion for sorption. Desorption studies of loaded nepheline were also carried out which showed that organic leachants have greater desorption capacity than water