Recovery of palladium using chemically modified cedar wood powder

Japanese cedar wood powder (CWP) was chemically modified to a tertiary-amine-type adsorbent and studied for the selective recovery of Pd(II) from various industrial waters. Batch adsorption tests performed from 0.1 M to 5 M HCl and HNO₃ systems reveal stable performance with better results in HNO₃ medium. The maximum loading capacity for Pd(II) was studied in HCl as well as in HNO₃. A continuous-flow experiment taking a real industrial solution revealed the feasibility of using modified CWP for the selective uptake and preconcentration of traces of palladium contained in acidic effluents. In addition, stable adsorption performance even on long exposure to γ-irradiation and selective recovery of palladium from simulated high-level liquid waste (HLW) are important outcomes of the study.