Formation of cobalt hydrotalcite by cation exchange of Co2+-substitued zeolite X
Abstract
Zeolite has been utilized to sequester heavy metals and nuclides due to the high cation exchange capacity. However, once-immobilized cations by zeolite tend to be re-exchanged by other cations (Ca2+, Mg2+, Na+, etc) present in groundwater. Thus, it is important to understand the mechanism associated with re-exchange reactions to predict the environmental fate and behavior of the metal cations sequestered by zeolite. In this study, we performed a series of cation exchange experiments using Co2+-substituted zeolite X (Co-X) in concentrated CaCl2 solutions. The radioactive isotope of cobalt (60Co2+), commonly found in low-to-intermediate level nuclear wastes, undergoes radioactive decay, likely altering the physicochemical properties of zeolite by generating heat and irradiation. To simulate such effects, Co-X was thermally treated at 400 and 600oC before re-exchange experiments. At the higher treatment temperature, the re-exchanged amount of Co2+ in Co-X by Ca2+ was found to decrease. According to X-ray diffraction, the re-exchange led to little change in the zeolite crystallinity for thermally untreated samples, but the significantly decreased crystallinity was noted for re-exchanged, thermally treated samples. Nonetheless, 27Al MAS NMR spectra of all re-exchanged samples revealed that the peaks corresponding to 4-fold coordinated Al became broader with their position shifting as a result of the re-exchange, suggesting that the re-exchange caused a short-range order structural distortion for both thermally untreated and treated samples. Also, Co-K edge X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was employed to examine the mechanism(s) involved in the re-exchange. By comparison of XAS spectra between re-exchanged samples and model compounds, Co2+ was likely to be either present as an extraframwork cation within zeolite or incorporated into a cobalt hydrotalcite (Co6Al2(OH)16(An-)2/n where An- is an interlayer anion) phase. The relative contribution of an extraframwork Co2+ versus cobalt hydrotalcite in re-exchanged samples was determined using the least squares fitting of EXAFS spectra. Formation of cobalt hydrotalcite became greater with the increasing treatment temperature. Taken together, thermally-induced structural distortion of zeolite enhanced the dealumination of zeolite and the subsequent formation of cobalt hydrotalcite.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFMMR31A2291J
- Keywords:
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- 1042 GEOCHEMISTRY Mineral and crystal chemistry