Management of Spent Organic Ion-Exchange Resins by Photochemical Oxidation
Management of spent ion-exchange resin waste arising from nuclear reactor operations by traditional practice of encapsulation in cement is associated with problems such as swelling and disintegration. Complete oxidation (mineralization) is an attractive alternative option. This paper reports the development of photochemical mineralization process for organic ion-exchange resins of poly (styrene-divinyl benzene) type with sulfonic acid and quaternary ammonium functional groups. It is a two-step process consisting of dissolution (conversion of solid resin into water-soluble reaction products) and photo-Fenton mineralization of the dissolved resin. Cation and anion resin dissolution was effected by reaction of the resin with H2O2 at 50-60 C in the presence of ferrous/copper sulphate catalyst. Direct dissolution of mixed resin was not efficient. However, the cation resin portion in the mixed resin could be selectively dissolved without affecting the anion portion. The solid anion resin after separation from the cation resin solution could be dissolved. About 0.5 liters of 50% H2O2 was required for dissolution of one kg of wet resin. The reaction time was 4-5 hours. Dissolution experiments were conducted on up to 8 liters of wet resin. The second step, viz., photo-Fenton mineralization of the dissolved resin was effected at ambient temperature(25-35 C). Kinetic results of laboratory scale experiments in immersion type photo-reactor and pilot scale experiments in tubular flow photo-reactor were presented. These results clearly demonstrated the photo-Fenton mineralization of dissolved resin at ambient temperature with stoichiometric quantity of H2O2 as against 70-200% excess H2O2 requirement in chemical mineralization experiments under Fenton oxidation conditions at 90-95 C. Based on these studies, a treatment scheme was developed and presented in this paper.
- Research Organization:
- Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai (IN)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- none (US)
- OSTI ID:
- 827468
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Waste Management 2003 Symposium, Tucson, AZ (US), 02/23/2003--02/27/2003; Other Information: PBD: 26 Feb 2003
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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