Adsorptive Behavior of an Amberlite Anion Exchanger Resin for Uranium (VI) Sorption in the Presence of Sulfate Anions

Uranium (VI) sorption using an anionic exchanger resin, namely Amberlite IRA910, in the presence of sulfate anions was the subject of current study. Batch sorption experiments were carried out to evaluate the influence of operational parameters such as pH, contact time, initial concentration and existence of various anions (including phosphate, sulfate, chloride, fluoride, and nitrate) in the solution on Amberlite IRA910 sorption behavior. Experiments revealed that uranium adsorption was fulfiled at pH>3 and 50 min to amount of 80%. Kinetics study revealed that the pseudo-second-order model showed better curve-fitting regression of the experimental data than the pseudo-first-order one. Freundlich isotherm was also provided well mathematical description of sorption process than the Langmuir one. Uranium adsorption capacity of the sorbent was 1666.6 mmol g-1. It was also revealed that the existence of various anion species in the solution could strongly affect the sorption of uranium using the Amberlite IRA910 anion exchanger resin.