Uranium Uptake by Conifer Leaves

1991

2 Abb., 2 Tab., 5 Lit. Ang.

Unselbständiges Werk

4299

200031958

In recent years, the recovery of uranium from mining waste and sea waters has attracted great attention. Of various methods proposed for the concentration of uranium from aqueous systems, adsorption by ion exchange or chelating agents has been considered to be the most promising. However, many synthetic ion exchange resins are still expensive for this object, and the radioactive waste resins cause serious problems in the storage. On the other hand, it has been reported that certain organic wastes such as scrap wool (Masri et al. 1974), citrus fruits peels (Sakaguchi et al. 1979), chemically modified chitin and chitosan (Sakaguchi et al. 1981), chemically modified woods (Morita et al. 1983) and barks (Fuji et al. 1988; Sakaguchi et al. to be pusblished) effectively adsorb uranium from aqueous systems, indicating the potential utility of these materials to concentrate uranium from mining waste water. Tree leaves are an another available organic waste that contains substances such as protein and polyphenols that might provide active sites for uranium binding. We therefore investigated the adsorptive abilities of conifer leaves for uranyl and other heavy metal ions.