The use of rice and coffee husks for biosorption of U (total), 241Am, and 137Cs in radioactive liquid organic waste

Rice and coffee husks (raw and chemically activated) are examined as potential biosorption materials regarding their capacity to remove U (total), 241Am, and 137Cs. The physical parameters evaluated were the morphological characteristics of the biomass, real and apparent density, and surface area. Contact times for the batch experiments were 0.5, 1, 2, and 4 h, and the concentrations tested ranged between 10% of the total concentration and the radioactive waste itself without any dilution. The results were evaluated by experimental sorption capacity, ternary isotherm, and kinetics models. The kinetics results showed that equilibrium was reached after 2 h for all biomass. Raw coffee husk showed the best adsorption results in terms of maximum capacity (qmax) for all three radionuclides, which were 1.96, 39.4 × 10−6, and 46.6 × 10−9 mg g−1 for U, Am, and Cs, respectively. The biosorption process for the raw and activated rice husks was best represented by the Langmuir ternary isotherm model with two sites. For the coffee husk, in the raw and activated states, the biosorption process was best described by the modified Jain and Snoeyink ternary model. These results suggest that biosorption with these biomaterials can be applied in the treatment of liquid organic radioactive waste containing mainly uranium and americium.