Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, volume 236, issue 2, publication number 120

Removal Performance and Mechanism of Eu (III) on Illite Supported by Hydroxyl Iron Pillars Modified with Fulvic Acid

Dandan Liu ¹

Jianqiao Liu ¹

Xiaoli Chen ²

Yiju Zhu ¹

Yi Zhou ¹

Jun Liu ¹

Fangzhu Xiao ³

Guowen Peng ^{1, 2, 4}

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School of Resources Environment and Safety Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang, People’s Republic of China |

School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang, People’s Republic of China |

School of Public Sanitation, University of South China, Hengyang, People’s Republic of China

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Hunan Engineering Research Center for the Safety Control and Recycling of Radioactive Heavy Metal Pollutants, University of South China, Hengyang, People’s Republic of China |

Publication type: Journal Article

Publication date: 2025-01-20

Springer Nature

Journal: Water, Air, and Soil Pollution

scimago Q2

SJR: 0.583

CiteScore: 4.5

Impact factor: 3.8

ISSN: 00496979, 15732932

DOI: 10.1007/s11270-025-07763-z

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Abstract

Radioactive waste liquids and their derivatives have gradually become a potential threat to mankind. In this study, the FA-Fe-illite was prepared by using fulvic acid to modify the material for the adsorption of Eu(III) after with illite as the matrix and via ferric nitrate as the iron-based donor source. The results showed that the adsorption efficiency of FA-Fe-illite for Eu(III) was significantly better than that of raw illite and iron-column supported illite(Fe-illite). When the pH was 6 , the temperature was 298 K, the time was 60 minutes, and the dosage was 1.2 g/L, the removal rate of europium the removal rate of FA-Fe-illite reached 88.13%. The adsorption process followed the quasi-secondary kinetic model and Langmuir isotherm. Moreover, the thermodynamic parameters also indicated that the adsorption of Eu(III) was an entropy-increasing process with spontaneous heat absorption. Ion exchange, electrostatic adsorption, and surface functional group trapping (-COOH, -OH) played important roles in the adsorption of Eu(III) by FA-Fe-illite. Even after five adsorption-desorption cycles, the removal rate still maintained at 75%. These findings provide insights for the removal of Eu(III) in radioactive pollution control.