Decontamination of spent ion exchange resins contaminated with iron-oxide deposits using mineral acid solutions

The efficiency of decontamination of model spent ion exchange resins, contaminated with magnetite and hematite, with mineral acid solutions, and using electro-decontamination, was evaluated. It has been shown that effective hematite dissolution occurs in concentrated mineral acid solutions. However, the use of direct current increases the decontamination efficiency of spent ion exchange resins contaminated with hematite. It is determined that with increasing voltage and acid concentration, the dissolution efficiency of hematite deposits increases and can exceed 99%. It has been shown that hematite dissolution is accompanied by secondary adsorption of radionuclides due to ion exchange, which can be removed with sodium nitrate solutions. (c) 2021 Korean Nuclear Society, Published by Elsevier Korea LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

Automated summary

The study found that effective dissolution of hematite can occur in concentrated mineral acid solutions, with direct current enhancing the decontamination efficiency of spent ion exchange resins contaminated with hematite to over 99%. Additionally, the dissolution of hematite is accompanied by secondary adsorption of radionuclides, which can be removed with sodium nitrate solutions.