Adsorption of Uranium(VI) and Zirconium(IV) from Acid Solutions on Silica Gel

Abstract

Adsorption of uranium(VI) and zirconium(IV) from aqueous solutions on silica gel was investigated by the batch equilibration method. The influence of shaking time and concentrations of nitric acid (i.e., pH of solution) and metal ions in solution were studied. Adsorption of uranium(VI) and zirconium(IV) increases with an increase of pH (decrease of nitric acid concentration) and ion concentrations. The adsorption mechanism of uranium(VI) and zirconium(IV) from aqueous solutions on silica gel is proposed. It is shown that zirconium(IV) and uranium(VI) can be separated if the concentration of nitric acid in solution is higher than 0.01 mol/dm³.