Separation studies of 60Co (II) and 134Cs (I) radionuclides from aqueous solution using starch-grafted citric acid-acrylamide/magnesia hydrogel

In this study, three starch hydrogels composite prepared using different ratios of starch, citric acid, acrylamide, and MgO nanoparticles (referred to as St1-g-(CA-AM), St2-g-(CA-AM), and St3-g-(CA-AM) MgO). These materials were assessed using FT-IR, SEM, and EDX. The adsorption of 134Cs(I) and 60Co (II) onto these materials studied using radiometric analysis. The investigation focused on how temperature, contact duration, initial metal ion concentration, and pH of the solution affected the sorption efficiency. It is found that a pH value of 7 optimized the adsorption reaction, reaching equilibrium after 40 minutes. The kinetics of the adsorption followed a pseudo-second order model. The Langmuir model adequately explained the sorption mechanism, supported by the analysis of isotherm models. The monolayer adsorption capacities for 60Co (II) and 134Cs (I) were 113.38 and 100.2 mg g−1, respectively. The thermodynamic study indicated that the sorption process is both endothermic and spontaneous.