Adsorption/membrane filtration as a contaminant concentration and separation process for mixed wastes and tank wastes. Progress report, 1996--1997

'The goal of this research is the development of a treatment system for the separation of contaminants in low-organic Hanford tank wastes into sub-groups that can subsequently be processed and appropriately disposed of. Since many of the contaminants of concern are associated with solids, initial experimental work has focused on characterizing the particulate matter in Hanford waste and understanding the filterability of this waste through membranes. Removal of some of the soluble contaminants by adsorption has been studied as well. The experimental work conducted to date can be divided into four categories: speciation calculations; solid/aqueous phase partitioning; membrane filtration experiments; and sorption experiments. The work was conducted using two simulated Hanford wastes (SHWs), one that contained strong complexing agents (citrate and EDTA) and one that did not.