Uranium Removal from Groundwater and Wastewater Using Clay-Supported Nanoscale Zero-Valent Iron

The peculiarities of sorption removal of uranium (VI) compounds from the surface andmineralized groundwater using clay-supported nanoscale zero-valent iron (nZVI) composite materialsare studied. Representatives of the main structural types of clay minerals are taken as clays: kaolinite(Kt), montmorillonite (MMT) and palygorskite (Pg). It was found that the obtained samples ofcomposite sorbents have much better sorption properties for the removal of uranium from surfaceand mineralized waters compared to natural clays and nZVI.It is shown that in mineralized watersuranium (VI) is mainly in anionic form, namely in the form of carbonate complexes, which arepractically not extracted by pure clays. According to the eciency of removal of uranium compoundsfrom surface and mineralized waters, composite sorbents form a sequence: montmorillonite-nZVI >palygorskite-nZVI > kaolinite-nZVI, which corresponds to a decrease in the specific surface area ofthe pristine clay minerals.