Document Type : Research paper

Authors

• Reza Dabbagh ¹
• Ghazaleh Toufani ²
• Parisa Tajer-Mohammad-Ghazvini ³
• Zahra Shiri-Yekta ⁴

¹ Nuclear Fuel Cycle Research School, Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute (NSTRI)

² Nuclear fuel cycle Research School, Nuclear science and technology Research Institute

³ Nuclear Science and Technology research Institute, Tehran, Iran

⁴ Nuclear Science and Technology Research Institute

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the absorption capacity of Padina sp. for uranium adsorption using a fixed-bed column. Among microorganisms, algae are particularly significant for ecological engineers due to their capacity to sequester uranium (U), and some species thrive in various extreme environments, often in large quantities. Industrial wastewater, which typically contains high levels of uranium (U(VI)), is primarily generated by uranium mining and nuclear power production, leading to considerable environmental harm. The response surface method based on the central composite design was used to evaluate the interactive performance of three main parameters (initial uranium concentration, Padina sp. dosage, and flow rate) for uranium removal percentage (variable response). The importance of the proposed quadratic model was confirmed by a high coefficient of determination (R2=0.990) and a low P-value (<0.001). The optimal absorption of the conditions is 500 mg/g uranium inlet concentration, Padina sp. dosage 4.10 g, flow rate 2 mL/min, and the maximum Uranium removal efficiency 89% (qmax=350.05).

Keywords

• Uranium
• Fixed-bed column
• Padina sp
• Removal
• RSM

Main Subjects

• MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE WASTES, AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES