Purification of water and fertile soil with bentonite-like clays of the Belgorod Region

¹ Belgorod National State Research University, 308015 Belgorod, Russia
² Frumkin Institute of Physical chemistry and Electrochemistry Russian academy of sciences Sciences, 119071 Moscow, Russia

^* Corresponding author: vesentsev@bsu.edu.ru

Abstract

This paper presents the results of a comparative assessment of the effectiveness of sorption purification of aquatic medium and fertile soils using native forms of bentonite clays of deposits in the Belgorod region (Russia) from heavy metal ions (Cu²⁺, Fe³⁺, Cr³⁺, Pb²⁺) and radionuclides (¹³⁷Cs, ⁸⁵Sr, ²³³U и ²³⁹Pu). It was revealed that during the sorption of heavy metal ions (Cu²⁺, Fe³⁺ и Cr³⁺) from model water systems, the most absorbing activity is shown by the natural clays of the Polyana and Nelidovka deposits, which have almost the same ability to absorb heavy metal ions. The purification efficiency of the model aqueous solutions from these cations taken at an initial concentration of 0.1 mmol/l reaches 95%. It was established that the natural clay of the Polyana deposit is also an effective sorbent for the purification of solutions from cesium radionuclides. In terms of sorption ability, the studied sample is 5 times superior to natural clinoptilolite, which is most often used to purify solutions from radiocesium.. It was revealed that with an increase in the amount of added sorbents, the detoxification effect is increased, that is, the content of heavy metals in the green mass decreases.