Separation of uranium ions from acetate medium by Dowex50WX8/Alizarin Red-S and its application on granitic samples, South Um Tawat, Eastern Desert

ABSTRACT

Dowex 50 WX8 modified with Alizarin Red S (ARS) was synthesised, characterised and tested for uranium ions adsorption. The synthesised Dowex 50 WX8/ARS has been characterised using FTIR and scanning electron microscope (SEM) before and after uranium adsorption. Possible factors influencing the adsorption process were studied; pH, equilibrium time, temperature, initial uranium concentration, adsorbent dose, acidic medium and ARS/Dowex 50WX8 weight ratio were studied. Experimental Data fitted well to Langmuir isotherm model with maximum adsorption capacity of 121.95 mg/g. Adsorption kinetics agreed with pseudo-second-order adsorption model. The effect of interfering ions on the adsorption process was studied. Elution of uranium was successfully carried out from the loaded Dowex 50WX8/ARS using 1 M HCl acid solution. Optimum conditions were applied to international standard references and Gabel Um Tawat granite samples with high accuracy and precision.

KEYWORDS:

• Dowex 50W-X8
• Alizarin Red-S (ARS)
• uranium
• kinetic
• equilibrium
• adsorption
• elution

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was funded by the Nuclear Materials Authority as a part of its research activities. This article was reviewed and approved for publishing by the Nuclear Materials Authority with no obligation on the authors’ part to revise the manuscript.