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Adsorption of Uranium (VI) onto Natural Algerian Phosphate: Study of Influencing Factors, and Mechanism

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Abstract

The goal of this study was to use natural phosphate (NP) abundant in Algeria, as an adsorbent for the removal of uranium (VI) from aqueous solutions in batch adsorption. A full 23 factorial extended experimental design was investigated. The factors and levels used during the experiments were; pH (X1) (1–5), initial U(VI) concentration (X2) (30–60 mg L−1) and adsorbent dose (X3) (5–30 g L−1). The properties of NP were characterized by XRF, SEM, EDS, XRD and FTIR before and after adsorption. The effects of factors were explored by response surface methodology. The equilibrium data of U(VI) adsorption onto NP fitted to the Langmuir − 1 model at a maximum monolayer capacity of 11.11 mg g−1 with the kinetics being pseudo-second-order. The characterization of the filtered solid after adsorption revealed the formation of a new lamellar crystal phase of autunite Ca(UO2)2(PO4)2(H2O)6. The calculated value of the mean free energy indicates the chemisorption process. Under optimal conditions, the uranium effluent derived from the precipitation of ammonium uranyl carbonate removal performance of 100% was achieved.

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Acknowledgements

My deep and sincere thanks to all authors who contributed directly or indirectly to the realization of this work. Special thanks to all staff of the Nuclear Research Center Draria, Materials Technology Laboratory of Bab Ezzouar and the Department of Civil, Environmental, Land, Building Engineering and Chemistry of Technical University of Bari Italy for their help and benevolence each in his area of expertise.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Materials Technology, University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene, BP 32, 16123, El-Alia, Bab-Ezzouar, Algiers, Algeria

    Safir Ouassel & Djamel Nibou

  2. Nuclear Research Center of Draria, Atomic Energy Commission, BP 43, 16050, Draria, Algiers, Algeria

    Salah Chegrouche, Abderahmane Aknoun, Redouane Melikchi & Sihem Khemaissia

  3. Department of Civil, Environmental, Land, Building Engineering and Chemistry (DICATECh), Technical University of Bari, Via E. Orabona n. 4, 70125, Bari, BA, Italy

    Sabino De Gisi

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  1. Safir Ouassel
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Correspondence to Safir Ouassel.

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Ouassel, S., Chegrouche, S., Nibou, D. et al. Adsorption of Uranium (VI) onto Natural Algerian Phosphate: Study of Influencing Factors, and Mechanism. Arab J Sci Eng 46, 6645–6661 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-020-05299-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13369-020-05299-4

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