Sorption studies of Cs+ and Ba2+ cations on magnesite

The adsorption behavior of Cs+ and Ba2+ cations on magnesite has been studied as a function of time, cation concentration and temperature, utilizing both the radiotracer method and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Saturation was approached in about 1 day for both cations. The sorption data were found to follow Freundlich type isotherms. Sorption of both Cs+ and Ba2+ cations were found to be exothermic in nature with ΔH0 (kJ/mol) of −37, −13 and ΔS0 (kJ/mol·K) of −0.09, −0.009, respectively. Negative ΔG0 values were obtained for both cations, indicating the spontaneity of their sorption on magnesite. The magnitude of ΔG0 suggest that ion exchange is the dominating sorption mechanism.