Abstract
The preparation of sodium nonatitanate was successfully scaled up to the 10 kg scale. The resulting material is highly selective for strontium, especially in alkaline solutions, giving a distribution coefficient (Kd) of 21,000 mL/g for strontium in a solution of 55 ppm Sr, 5 M NaNO2, and 0.1 M NaOH. Column studies with pelletized sodium titanate show that this form has good mass transfer kinetics, and a high dynamic capacity for strontium (2.0 meq/g from a solution of 47 ppm Sr, 5 M NaNO3, and 0.1 M NaOH). One of the highlights of this work is that our exchanger maintains its high selectivity for strontium in the presence of a variety of complexants.