Removal of strontium from simulated low-level radioactive wastewater by nanofiltration

The performance of different nanofiltration (NF) membranes for the treatment of strontium-containing radioactive wastewater was investigated. The effects of the initial strontium concentration, solution pH and complexation phenomena on strontium removal were described. For all the three membranes, the strontium rejection increased with decreasing initial strontium concentration. Meanwhile, the strontium rejection was minimum at the membrane isoelectric point (pH 5) primarily due to decreased co-ion electrostatic repulsion. In the presence of a complexing agent (polyacrylic acid or ethylenediamine tetraacetic acid disodium salt), the strontium rejection was generally higher than those obtained without a complexing agent for NF 270 and XN 45. Membrane cleaning experiments were also conducted to recover the performance of the membranes, which exhibited degradation during long-time filtration. The performance of the membranes after cleaning was close to that of the virgin membranes, especially for XN 45, whose recovery percentage was nearly 100%.