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Effect of solution composition on the recrystallization of kaolinite to feldspathoids in hyperalkaline conditions: limitations of pertechnetate incorporation by ion competition effects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Janice Littlewood ,
Samuel Shaw ,
Pieter Bots ,
Caroline L. Peacock ,
Divyesh Trivedi  and
Ian T. Burke
Janice Littlewood
Affiliation:
Earth Surface Science Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Samuel Shaw
Affiliation:
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Pieter Bots
Affiliation:
School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Caroline L. Peacock
Affiliation:
Earth Surface Science Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
Divyesh Trivedi
Affiliation:
National Nuclear Laboratories, Risley, Warrington, Cheshire WA3 6AS, UK
Ian T. Burke*
Affiliation:
Earth Surface Science Institute, School of Earth and Environment, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK
*
*E-mail: i.t.burke@leeds.ac.uk
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Abstract

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The incorporation of pertechnetate (TcO4–) into feldspathoids produced by alkaline alteration of aluminosilicate clays may offer a potential treatment route for 99Tc-containing groundwater and liquors. Kaolinite was aged in NaOH to determine the effect of base concentration, temperature, and solution composition on mineral transformation and pertechnetate uptake. In all reactions, increased temperature and NaOH concentration increased the rate of kaolinite transformation to feldspathoid phases. In reactions containing only NaOH, sodalite was the dominant alteration product; however, small amounts (6–15%) of cancrinite also formed. In experiments containing NaOH/Cl and NaOH/NO3 mixtures, sodalite and nitrate cancrinite were crystallized (at 70°C), with no reaction intermediates. The addition of SO42– crystallized sulfatic sodalite at 40 and 50°C, but at higher temperatures (60 and 70°C) sulfatic sodalite transforms to vishnevite (sulfatic cancrinite). In experiments where a pertechnetate tracer was added (at ∼1.5 μmol l–1), only 3–5% of the 99Tc was incorporated into the feldspathoid phases. This suggests that the larger pertechnetate anion was unable to compete as favourably for the internal vacancies with the smaller OH–, NO3–, SO42– or Cl– anions in solution, making this method likely to be unsuitable for groundwater treatment.

Keywords

kaolinitealkalinealterationpertechetatesodalitecrancrinite
Type
Research Article
Information
Mineralogical Magazine , Volume 79 , Issue 6 , November 2015 , pp. 1379 - 1388
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2015. This is an open access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Copyright
Copyright © The Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland 2015

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