Influence of Boric Acid Solution and Gamma Irradiation on Selective Sorbents

Abstract

We tested stability of 43 selective sorbents, covering the widest range of functional groups, efficiency of sorption, method of production, and which are theoretically useful for sorption of cesium, strontium, cobalt, arsenic and actinoids. We present 3 of them: A = TiO2, B = Al2O3 and C = MxH(TiO)4(SiO4)3 . z H2O. In first testing, sorbents were exposed to the model solution of boric acid for 168 hours, in which they were mixed in a closed container with a rotator. After the exposure, sorbent solutions were filtered and analysed by spectroscopic techniques (Infrared Spectroscopy (IR), Raman Spectroscopy (RS) and newly by Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), combined with Energy Dispersive Spectroscopy (EDS)). Exposed spectra were compared with spectra of new, non-exposed sorbents. In second testing, sorbents were exposed to gamma radiation for 12 days with total dose 666 ± 43 kGy, produced by cobalt bomb and analysed by same techniques. The aim of our testing was to find out how sorbents behave in model boric acid solution and what effect has the gamma radiation on sorbent spectra and to analyse sorbents by SEM with EDX.