Sorption of Cesium and Strontium on Rocks and Minerals

Journal article, 1982

Sorption, rock mineral, The sorption of strontium and cesium on some common Swedish igneous rocks (granite, gneiss and diabase) and eleven rock-forming and accessory minerals (quartz, orthoclase, biotite, muscovite, hornblende, magnetite, hematite, fluorite, calcite, apatite and serpentine) has been studied using batch techniques. The solid sorbents were characterized with respect to mineralogy and cation-exchange capacity. The water phase used in the experiments was a synthetic groundwater with a composition representative of a groundwater from granitic rock. The influence on the sorption of parameters such as pH of, and presence of anions in the water, contact time, nuclide concentration, particle size and liquid/solid ratio was studied. The most important parameters influencing the sorption were the nuclide concentration, the groundwater composition and the mineral composition (e.g., presence of minerals with high cation-exchange capacity and/or high surface/mass ratio).