Study of Coprecipitation of Strontium (Sr2+) with Barium Sulphate (BaSO4) in Aqueous Solution

Abstract

The objective of this work is to highlight the phenomenon of coprecipitation of strontium at low concentrations and in varying proportions, in order to establish and optimize the parameters that affect this process of decontamination of radioactive liquid effluents containing strontium. The co-precipitation method is one of the most used in the nuclear industry for the treatment of radioactive liquid waste as it can be applied to all effluent whatever their composition. This process consists of forming in situ by precipitation solid particles in order to selectively capture one or more radioisotopes. This study allowed defining the best operating conditions for treatment of synthetic wastewater containing strontium. In fact, various experimental parameters such as stirring speed and stirring time, pH, conductivity of the solution and the initial effluent concentration of strontium, were selected for the experimental study of the phenomenon of coprecipitation in semi-batch reactor. The decontamination technology by coprecipitation is an interesting and alternative method for treating liquid radioactive effluents.