Scale-up and testing of a novel ion exchanger for strontium

The preparation of sodium nonatitanate was successfully scaled up to the 10 kg scale. The resulting material is highly selective for strontium, especially in alkaline solutions, giving a distribution coefficient (K-d) of 21,000 mL/g for strontium in a solution of 55 ppm Sr, 5 M NaNO3, and 0.1 M NaOH. Column studies with pelletized sodium titanate show that this form has good mass transfer kinetics, and a high dynamic capacity for strontium (2.0 meq/g from a solution of 47 ppm Sr, 5 M NaNO3, and 0.1 M NaOH). One of the highlights of this work is that our exchanger maintains its high selectivity for strontium in the presence of a variety of complexants.