Adsorption of thorium from aqueous solutions by MnO2 modified activated carbon

Turkey's current energy sources are insufficient to meet energy needs. Therefore, the establishment of a nuclear power plant has started. Uranium can be used as fuel with thorium for electricity production from nuclear energy. In our country, 380.000 tons of thorium reserves are found, which makes the work of thorium-related work become important. The use of thorium in open cycles is thought to provide about 20-30% of uranium savings, and thorium is considered as fuel for the future. Separation of radionuclides from aqueous solutions is a significant issue in terms of environmental pollution. Adsorption is an important and effective technique used for separation of critical trace elements from large volumes amounts of solutions and isolation. Activated carbon adsorption is a very substantial separation technology used in chemistry and environmental engineering. Because of high selectivity, radiation resistance and purity of activated carbon, use of active carbon in nuclear industry for radionuclide separation from aqueous solutions is significant. In this study, we aimed to reduce environmental pollution caused by thorium and also aimed to recover thorium from the radioactive wastes with the adsorption of thorium from aqueous solutions by manganese dioxide modified activated carbon. For this purpose, commercially active carbon is used and manganese dioxide is immobilized on activated carbon with permanganate method. Optimum parameters effect thorium adsorption on activated carbon are; pH 4, thorium concentration 90 ppm, shaking time 30 minutes and temperature 30°C and optimum parameters on AC-MnO2O2 are pH 2, thorium concentration 20 ppm, shaking time 15 minutes and temperature 30°C. In addition, the results showed adsorption of thorium on AC and AC- MnO2 is by Freundlich isotherm.