Effect of Humic Acid on the Uranium(VI) Sorption onto Phyllite and its Mineralogical Constituents

Organic materials, such as humic and fulvic acids, that are present in natural aquifers interact with dissolved inorganic contaminants and affect their sorption behavior on geological materials and thus, their migration in aquifers. Consequently, a quantification of the influence of humic material on radionuclide sorption is necessary.
Phyllite was used as site-specific rock material because it is quite common in the Western ‘Erzgebirge' in Saxony, Germany, and is closely associated with uranium deposits of the uranium mining areas in East Germany. Site specific humic acid, isolated from the bog ‘Kleiner Kranichsee' and a 14C-labelled synthetic humic acid were used for the experiments.
The effect of humic acid was studied on the sorption behavior of uranium(VI) onto phyllite and its mineralogical components muscovite, albite and quartz in air-equilibrated batch experiments as a function of pH. The uranium sorption is strongly affected by both the pH and the presence of organic material. The kinetics and reversibility of the uranium and humic acid sorption were studied using the 14C-labelled humic acid. Furthermore, the influence of competing sulfate ions on the uranyl and humic acid sorption onto phyllite was determined, because seepage waters of the uranium mining areas in Saxony contain, among other anions, relatively high concentrations of sulfate (3 10-2 M).