An assessment of strontium sorption onto bentonite buffer material in waste repository

In the present study, changes occurring in sorption characteristics of a representative bentonite (WIn-BT) exposed to SrCl₂ (0.001-0.1 M) under the pH range of 1-13 were investigated. Such interaction revealed a significant variation in surface charge density and binding energy of ions with respect to bentonite, and alteration in their physicochemical properties viz., specific surface area, cation exchange capacity, thermal and mechanical behaviour were observed. The distribution coefficients (k _d) calculated for sorption onto virgin (UCBT) and contaminated bentonite (CBT) indicated a greater influence of mineralogical changes occurred with variance of pH and strontium concentration. Notably, the sorption mechanism clearly elucidates the effect of structural negative charge and existence of anionic metal species onto CBT, and depicted the reason behind significant k _d values at highly acidic and alkaline pH. The maximum k _d of UCBT and CBT_{(0.001M SrCl2)} were 8.99 and 2.92 L/kg, respectively, at the soil pH 8.5; whereas it was 2.37 and 1.23 L/kg at pH 1 for the CBT_{(0.1M SrCl2)} and CBT_{(0.01M SrCl2)}, respectively. The findings of this study can be useful to identify the physicochemical parameters of candidate buffer material and sorption reversibility in waste repository.