Preparation of some resorcinol formaldehyde resins for the separation of ¹³⁴CS from acidic waste streams

Abstract

An assortment of equilibrium assessments was conducted at 298 ± 2 K with a granulated resorcinol-formaldehyde (RF) resin, and acetone resorcinol formaldehyde gel (ARF) in an attempt to decontaminate ¹³⁴CS from waste streams. A: R: F: Na₂Co₃ was optimized as 2:1:2:1.6, during ARF preparation while, R: F: Na₂Co₃ was found to be 1: 3.5: 1.5 in case of RF, respectively. The obtained gels were amorphous and possessed different functional groups. The ARF had higher surface area and total pore volume values than RF; 780 m²/g and 0.62 cm³/g were the maximum values obtained for ARF under different conditions. The scanning electron microscope graphs proved that they are granular and spherical in nature with nanometer sizes under 22 W ultrasonic dispersion. In these tryouts, simulated waste sample to¹³⁴Cs was used in comparison with other radioactive ⁶⁰Co and ^152+154. Lagergren first-order kinetic model was used to compare the kinetic constants, K_ads of the tested ions; the order of K_ads of Cs⁺ < Co²⁺ < Eu³⁺, which were in accordance with data obtained in the Cartesian coordinate in space. However, a reversed order of selectivity and capacity measurements was obtained because of hydration of the ions in solution.

Keywords:

• Resorcinol formaldehyde
• Preparation
• Characterization
• Radioactive cesium
• Decontamination
• Waste streams