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  4. Immobilization of uranium in contaminated sediments by hydroxyapatite addition
 
research article

Immobilization of uranium in contaminated sediments by hydroxyapatite addition

Arey, J. Samuel  
•
Seaman, J. C.
•
Bertsch, P. M.
1999
Environmental Science & Technology

Batch equilibrations were performed to investigate the ability of hydroxyapatite (Ca5(PO4)3OH) to chemically immobilize U in two contaminated sediment samples having different organic carbon contents (123 and 49 g kg-1, respectively). Apatite additions lowered aqueous U to near proposed drinking water standards in batch equilibrations of two distinct sediment strata having total U concentrations of 1703 and 2100 mg kg-1, respectively. Apatite addition of 50 g kg-1 reduced the solubility of U to values less than would be expected if autunite (Ca(UO2)2(PO4)2·10H2O) was the controlling solid phase. A comparison of the two sediment types suggests that aqueous phase U may be controlled by both the DOC content through complexation and the equilibrium pH for a given apatite application rate. Sequential chemical extractions demonstrated that apatite amendment transfers U from more chemically labile fractions, including water-soluble, exchangeable, and acid-soluble (pH ≈ 2.55) fractions, to the Mn-occluded fraction (pH ≈ 1.26). This suggests that apatite amendment redirects solid-phase speciation with secondary U phosphates being solubilized due to the lower pH of the Mn-occluded extractant, despite the lack of significant quantities of Mn oxides within these sediments. Energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis conducted in a transmission electron microscope (TEM) confirmed that apatite amendment sequesters some U in secondary Al/Fe phosphate phases.

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Type
research article
DOI
10.1021/es980425+
Author(s)
Arey, J. Samuel  
Seaman, J. C.
Bertsch, P. M.
Date Issued

1999

Published in
Environmental Science & Technology
Volume

33

Issue

2

Start page

337

End page

342

Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

EPFL

EPFL units
LMCE  
Available on Infoscience
January 8, 2010
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/45403
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