The use of macrophytes as biosorbents in radioactive liquid waste treatment

Abstract

An important stage of the management of radioactive liquid waste is the chemical treatment. In the last few years, biosorption has attracted attention as one alternative method to remove radionuclides in liquid LL/ILW due to its efficiency and low costs. There are many biomasses that can be applied for this purpose, as agricultural residues and Macrophytes. This study aims at studying Macrophytes (Pistia Stratiotes, Limnobium Laevigatum, Lemna sp and Azolla sp) ability to absorb uranium in liquid solutions. The biosorption capacity of uranium by the Macrophytes was experimentally determined. The experiments determine the metal uptake after the solution was in contact with each biosorbents by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The results show that these materials are potentially applicable in the treatment of liquid radioactive waste.