Comparing hexcyanoferrate loaded onto silica, silicotitanate and chabazite sorbents for Cs extraction with a continuous-flow fixed-bed setup: methods and pitfalls

Agnès Grandjean (1) , Yves Barre (1) , Audrey Hertz (1) , Virginie Fremy (1) , Jeremy Mascarade (1) , Thierry Louradour (2) , Thierry Prevost (3)

1 DPME - Département de recherche sur les Procédés et Matériaux pour les Environnements complexes
2 CTI, ALSYS Group,(France)
3 ORANO

Radioactive 137Cs is one of the most common and problematic radionuclides in nuclear wastes. Decontamination typically involves passing the waste in continuous flow through an agitated or fixed bed reactor containing an efficient sorbent. There are many articles in the literature describing a broad spectrum of highly efficient sorbents. However, comparing their properties is often difficult, mainly because the experimental conditions used differ. We describe the series of experiments that need to be performed to characterize Cs sorbents and illustrate by comparing three of these that, for the extraction of trace elements, the kinetics and selectivity of the exchange process are far more important than the maximum extraction capacity of the material.

Domains: Chemical and Process Engineering; Material chemistry

Agnès Grandjean, Yves Barre, Audrey Hertz, Virginie Fremy, Jeremy Mascarade, et al.. Comparing hexcyanoferrate loaded onto silica, silicotitanate and chabazite sorbents for Cs extraction with a continuous-flow fixed-bed setup: methods and pitfalls. Process Safety and Environmental Protection, 2020, 134, pp.371-380. ⟨10.1016/j.psep.2019.12.024⟩. ⟨cea-02931931⟩