Pil Soo Hahn

Adsorption Behavior of Aqueous Europium on Kaolinite under Various Disposal Conditions

This work investigated the adsorption behavior of europium on kaolinite under various disposal conditions. Batch-wise adsorption and precipitation experiments and equilibrium model calculations were performed over a pH range of 4–10 and CO2 concentration range of 0%, 0.03%, and 10%. Experimental precipitation behaviors are in agreement with the results of equilibrium model calculations using the geochemical code MINTEQA2. Aqueous species of Eu3+ exists mainly at pH 5 or below and solid phases of Eu(OH)3(s), Eu(OH)CO3(s), and Eu2(CO3)3·3H2O(s) are formed at higher pH ranges. Adsorption behavior of Eu on kaolinite in the low pH range can be explained by interlayer ion-exchange reaction. The significant increase in adsorbed amount at pH 5–6 is due to the surface complexation at the edge site of kaolinite. In the high pH range, precipitation of Eu contributes mainly to the adsorption quantity. The rapid decrease in adsorbed amount above pH 7 under 10% CO2 condition occurs by the formation of anionic europium species of Eu(CO3)2-.The adsorption of Eu on kaolinite could be well interpreted by the Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The data except for the highest equilibrium concentration ranges were also explained by Langmuir isotherm and the maximum adsorbed quantity of Eu on kaolinite,b, is 1.2 mg/g.

An electron paramagnetic resonance study of Cu(II) sorbed on quartz

The nature of the interaction among Cu(II), adsorbed water, and quartz surface was studied using electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy. The EPR lineshape gave information concerning the motional status of sorbed Cu(II) that revealed its binding strength at the surface. Two distinct absorption lines of sorbed Cu(II), namely, the liquid-type and the solid-type signal, were simultaneously observed at the fully hydrated surface at room temperature. The absorption lines and the variation of their intensity with experimental and measurement conditions such as degree of hydration, pH, ionic strength, and surface coverage indicated that there exist three kinds of Cu(II) entities, the inner-sphere surface complex, the outer-sphere surface complex, and the surface precipitate on the quartz surface, and that their concentrations change with experimental conditions. The reversible conversion of the liquid-type signal to the solid-type one during the drying-wetting or freezing-melting of the surface suggested the development of multiple layers of adsorbed water molecules on the quartz surface. It is assumed that the innermost layer of the water layers contains the inner-sphere Cu(II) surface complexes, while the outer layers contain the outer-sphere complexes whose binding strength decreases outward with increasing distance from the surface. The result of this work suggests that the sorption mechanism of a metal cation on a given mineral surface; hence its mobility in the environment may change significantly with the solution pH, the ionic strength, and the surface coverage.