Adsorption of thorium from aqueous solutions by perlite

The use of expanded perlite for the adsorption of thorium from aqueous solution by batch technique is presented. The effects of particle size, pH of the solution, initial thorium concentration, shaking time, V/m ratio and temperature were determined. It was found that the adsorption capacity increases by the increase in the pH of the suspensions. The rate of thorium adsorption on expanded perlite was observed to be fast in the first hour of the reaction time. Adsorption isotherms were expressed by Langmuir and Freundlich adsorption models and the adsorption experiments conducted at 30 +/- 1 degrees C showed that the adsorption isotherms correlated well with the Langmuir model. From the adsorption data, thermodynamic parameters such as DeltaG(o), DeltaH(o) and DeltaS(o) were calculated as a function of temperature.