Development of a novel composite by coating polyacrylic fibres with hexacyanoferrates for the removal of Cs from radioactive liquid waste

Hexacyanoferrates (HCFs) are known to be efficient sorbents for the removal of Cs from aqueous solutions. But the powdery precipitate of HCF is unsuitable for use in columns. To make it amenable to column application, it has been coated on polyacrylic fibres by in situ precipitation. In batch and column experiments, the fibres coated with Cupric ferric hexacyanoferrate provided good removal of¹³⁷Cs from radioactive effluents. Leaching of Cs from the fibres was found to be only 14% in demineralised water medium. The Cs-loaded fibres could easily be incinerated to a smaller volume for further conditioning.