Effect of Environmental Factors on the Removal of Uranyl by Elemental Iron

Batch experiments were conducted to investigate the kinetics of uranyl removal by zerovalent iron (ZVI) as well as the impact of environmental factors on this process. The result suggests that the aqueous uranyl cations can be reductively removed by ZVI. The uranyl immobilization was little affected by reaction temperature, indicating that this process was a chemical-controlled reaction mediated by the iron surface. The uranyl removal rate increased with decreasing pH at acidic pH. The uranyl fixation by ZVI followed first-order kinetics with regard to ZVI at low iron amendments and zero-order kinetics with regard to ZVI at high iron amendments.