Selective Separation of Cobalt Ions from Some Fission Products Using Synthesized Inorganic Sorbent

In this work, the separation of Co(II) ions from some fission products using zirconium molybdo silicate (ZrMoSi) sorbent was studied. ZrMoSi sorbent was prepared by the co-precipitation method and characterized using different analytical tools such as FT-IR, SEM, XRF, XRD, TGA, and DTA. ZrMoSi sorbent was found to have the molecular formula ZrO2.MoO3(0.1).SiO2(10.2).4.3 H2O. The sorption behavior of Co(II) involves the effect of shaking time, pH, initial Co(II) concentrations, desorption, and recycling. The sorption data is dependent on pH and ZrMoSi has high separation factors for Co(II) from Cs(I) and Sr(II). Reaction kinetics follow the pseudo-2nd-order model with an equilibrium time of 60 min and sorption isotherms are more applicable to a Langmuir isotherm. Desorption of Co(II) from the loaded sorbent was studied using different eluents and the best eluant is HCl (93.39%). The recycling results of Co(II) from aqueous solutions are excellent and revealed that ZrMoSi sorbent can be used as a promising sorbent to remove Co(II) from liquid waste.