Freshwater Recovery and Removal of Cesium and Strontium from Radioactive Wastewater by Methane Hydrate Formation.

As human society has advanced, nuclear energy has provided energy security while also offering low carbon emissions and reduced dependence on fossil fuels, whereas nuclear power plants have produced large amounts of radioactive wastewater, which threatens human health and the sustainability of water resources. Here, we demonstrate a hydrate-based desalination (HBD) technology that uses methane as a hydrate former for freshwater recovery and for the removal of radioactive chemicals from wastewater, specifically from Cs- and Sr-containing wastewater. The complete exclusion of radioactive ions from solid methane hydrates was confirmed by a close examination using phase equilibria, spectroscopic investigations, thermal analyses, and theoretical calculations, enabling simultaneous freshwater recovery and the removal of radioactive chemicals from wastewater by the methane hydrate formation process described in this study.

CO competes with radioactive chemicals for freshwater recovery: Hydrate-based desalination.

Here, we introduce CO hydrate-based desalination (CHBD) technology for freshwater recovery from radioactive wastewater, for water particularly containing Cs and Sr. The hydrate equilibrium curves of CO hydrates shift towards lower temperature and higher pressure regions as the concentrations of CsCl and SrCl increase. X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy measurements found that neither CsCl nor SrCl can affect the structure of CO hydrates.