School of Resource & Environment and Safety Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China.
School of Resource & Environment and Safety Engineering, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China; Hengyang Key Laboratory of Soil Pollution Control and Remediation, University of South China, Hengyang 421001, China.
J Hazard Mater. 2021 Aug 15;416:125885. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.125885. Epub 2021 Apr 15.
Iron-based materials have been widely used for treating uranium-containing wastewater. However, the iron-uranium solids originating by treating radioactive water through pollutant transfer methods has become a new uncontrolled source of persistent radioactive pollution. The safe disposal of such hazardous waste is not yet well-resolved. The electrochemical mineralization method was developed to rapidly purify uranium-containing wastewater through lattice doping in magnetite and recover uranium without generating any pollutants. An unexpected isolation of UO from uranium-doped magnetite was discovered through in-situ XRD with a temperature variation from 300 °C to 700 °C. Through HRTEM and DFT calculation, it was confirmed that the destruction of the inverse spinel crystal structure during the gradual transformation of magnetite into γ-FeO and α-FeO promoted the migration, aggregation, and isolation of uranium atoms. Uniquely generated UO and FeO were easily separated and over 80% uranium and 99.5% iron could be recovered. These results demonstrate a new strategy for uranium utilization and the environmentally friendly treatment of uranium-containing wastewater.
铁基材料已被广泛用于处理含铀废水。然而，通过污染物转移方法处理放射性水产生的铁-铀固体已成为持久性放射性污染的新的无控制来源。此类危险废物的安全处置尚未得到很好的解决。电化学矿化方法通过磁铁矿晶格掺杂来快速净化含铀废水，并在不产生任何污染物的情况下回收铀。通过原位 XRD 研究发现，随着温度从 300°C 变化到 700°C，铀掺杂磁铁矿中铀出乎意料地被分离出来。通过 HRTEM 和 DFT 计算，证实了磁铁矿逐渐转化为γ-FeO 和α-FeO 过程中反尖晶石晶体结构的破坏促进了铀原子的迁移、聚集和隔离。独特生成的 UO 和 FeO 易于分离，超过 80%的铀和 99.5%的铁可以被回收。这些结果为铀的利用和含铀废水的环保处理提供了一种新策略。
