Sorption of Sr-85 and Am-241 from liquid radioactive wastes by alginate beads

The paper reports the adsorption of strontium(II) and americium(III) from aqueous solutions onto calcium alginate (CaA), barium alginate (BaA) and strontium alginate (SrA) beads. Adsorption process was studied in batch experiments as a function of the initial pH of the solution and the contact time. All sorbents were examined by the termogravimetric analysis (TG). Laboratory obtained spherical beads of CaA, BaA and SrA seem to be good metal sorbents from liquid radioactive wastes. A contact time of about 4 h and neutral pH of the initial aqueous solution have been proposed to be optimum conditions for Sr-85 and Am-241 removal from the contaminated solutions using alginate sorbents. Laboratory obtained beads of CaA, BaA and SrA are characterized by the decontamination factor (DF) equal to 85% for Sr(II) and 90% for Am(III).