Simple Method for Technetium Removal from Aqueous Solutions

Packed-column experiments with iron dust of 40 to 60 mesh (Fisher 1–57) showed an excellent uptake of pertechnetate ions from alkaline (pH ∼ 8.5) high-nitrate (100 to 250 g/ℓ) solutions at flow rates measured in bed volumes (BVs) of between 0.05 and 0.15 BV/min. The columns worked well until they became plugged by rusting after several hundred bed volumes of solution were flowed through (330 to 900 BV). Similar tests using organic ion-exchange resins, such as Dowex SRB-OH and Reillex HP and Reillex HPQ, and the same alkaline high-nitrate solutions showed breakthroughs after 20 to 50 BV were passed.