Modified Pacitan bentonite with acid and thermal activation as a potential adsorbent for radionuclides: Characterization.

The by-product formed by radioactive mineral processing industry may contain radionuclides which could cause a radiological impact on workers, the surrounding community, and the environment. The use of bentonite as an adsorbent for wastewater treatment is widespread and has been proven to treat radionuclides contaminants such as Cs, Sr, Eu, Th, U, Co, and Pu. This study was conducted to study the characteristics of raw bentonite and its modification using acid and thermal activation to determine the potential of the bentonite to adsorbed thorium and uranium radionuclides. The bentonite used in this study was collected from Pacitan, East Java, which was activated with the variation acid concentration and heating temperature. The modified bentonite was characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) to analyze the functional group, X-ray Diffraction (XRD) to determine the crystallinity of the material, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) to investigate the chemical composition, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) to analyze the morphology, and Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) to measure the surface area and pore volume of the modified bentonite. The characterization obtained in this study proves that the presence of Ca-montmorillonite with the optimum condition in acid-activated bentonite can increase its capacity and be a promising adsorbent for wastewater treatment, especially for further study in radionuclides adsorption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]