Removal of uranium from nuclear effluent using regenerated bleaching earth steeped in β‒naphthol

The intensification and adsorption of uranium on different adsorbents are considered an operative substitute technique for extraction from nuclear effluent. Many synthetic adsorbent materials have recently been developed for the removal of uranium from aqueous solution. Latterly, clay is a fundamental adsorbent to be considered in uranium recovery owing to the promising sorption properties. In this study, a spent bleaching earth from an edible oil manufacturing was remedied with a view to get rid of the edible oil remnants and then steeped in β‒naphthol to promote its adsorption characteristics. The clay is characterized by X‒ray Fluorescence (XRF), Fourier Transform Infrared Spectrometer (FTIR), surface area analyzer, Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), and Energy-dispersive X‒ray spectroscopy (EDX). The experiments have been conducted upon adsorption efficiency of uranium to optimize the influence of pH value, agitation time, clay dosage, initial uranium ions concentration, and system temperature The uptake capacity of the new adsorbent is 175.10 mg g−1; it was been attained at pH 4.5, 60 min, and 25 °C. Both of the kinetic and isotherm of adsorption process were calculated and the data work in with pseudo‒first‒order kinetic model along with Langmuir‒Freundlich isotherm. Furthermore, the thermodynamic study implies the spontaneousness and exothermicity of the adsorption process of uranium ions. The negative value of ΔS° refers to the practicality of adsorption of uranium ions and the mitigation in randomness for the new adsorbent clay.