Biochar filter for radium remediation in mining waters

加拿大是世界上的铀生产国之一，约占全球产量的18%。目前，加拿大有20个铀矿关闭或退役。修复可能是一个微妙的权衡，因为大量的水在释放到自然环境之前需要处理，而用于修复的工具有限。近年来，沸石、赤铁矿、硅藻土、活性炭等对放射性核素的吸附也进行了除镭的试验。然而，这些吸附剂相对昂贵。生物炭是一种基于低成本和绿色吸附剂的替代方法，由于其丰富的官能团及其在金属去除和土壤修复中的作用，近年来引起了人们的广泛关注。在这个项目中，我们建议使用锯木厂废弃的生物炭来去除铀矿退役废水中的镭。我们的目标是：(1)评估生物炭从矿山水中浓缩镭的潜力；(2)展望其在矿山废水处理厂降低镭浓度的应用潜力。

Canada is one of the world's uranium producers, accounting for about 18% of global production. Currently, 20 uranium mines are closed or decommissioned in Canada. Remediation may be a delicate tradeoff due to the vast quantity of the water to be treated prior to be released to the natural environment and the limited tools available for remediation. In the past few years, sorption of radionuclides by zeolite, hematite, diatomite, activated carbon, etc. have also been tested for radium removal. However, these adsorbents are relatively expensive. An alternative approach based on low cost and green sorbent, the biochar, has attracted much attention recently due to the abundance of functional groups and its proven role in metal removal and soil remediation. In this project, we propose to use sawmill waste biochar for removal of radium from decommissioned uranium mine effluents. Our goals are to (1) assess the potential of biochar to concentrate radium from mine waters and (2) prospect its potential for application to reducing radium concentration at the mine wastewater treatment plant.