Influence of adsorption parameters on cesium uptake from aqueous solutions- a brief review

Abstract

Due to rapid population growth, technological advancement and industrial revolution, the rate of generated waste effluents has become a grave concern. Cesium which possesses high fission yield is generally transferred to liquid wastes especially those emanated from the nuclear power plants, reprocessing of spent fuels, nuclear weapon testing and radionuclides production facilities for medical applications etc. Radiocesium (¹³⁷Cs) is one of the hazardous radionuclides creating adverse effects on human health and environment. Due to its physical (T_1/2 = 30.17y) and chemical characteristics (alkalinity, solubility etc.), it can be easily assimilated by the living organisms. As a result, the removal of cesium from wastewater is imperative from the health point of view. Several techniques are implemented but in recent time, adsorption has been gaining increasing attention to the scientific community owing to a number of reasons. Hence, this paper presents an overview on sorption of cesium from wastewaters. Consequently, several critical parameters such as sorption capacity, percentage efficiency and the influence of several factors on cesium uptake by various adsorbents have been reviewed in details.