The radioactive waste water is generated in nuclear industry
nuclear research centers
medicine and other fields. It's harmful to living organisms
environment and natural resources. Thus
the radioactive waste water should be managed and treated well. Nanofiltration is a new kind separation technology with low-cost and high-efficiency
which ranges between ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis. In this work
TiO2/ZrO2 composite nanofiltration membranes with MWCO of about 500 and permeability of 270 L·m-2·h-1·MPa-1 were used to remove the cobalt and strontium ions in the low-level radioactive wastewater without the addition of complexing agent. The effects of pH
transmembrane pressure and initial concentration on the permeability and retention property were investigated. It was demonstrated that the ion retention behaviors were enhanced with the increase of transmembrane pressure from 0.4 to 1.0 MPa
while the permeability changed slightly. The retention gradually increased along with the deviation from the isoelectric point(pH=7)
where the retention was minimum value. Under the condition of pH=3
the retention of Co2+ and Sr2+ achieved the highest level
which was up to 99%. The ion retention and permeability decreased with the increase of initial concentration. With the operation time exceeding 2000 min
ions retention and permeability of ceramic nanofiltration membrane were almost stable. The ceramic nanofiltration membrane showed a good potential in the application of radioactive effluent treatment.