Sorption of Eu(III) on granite; EPMA, LA-ICP-MS, batch and modeling studies

Fukushi, Keisuke*; Hasegawa, Yusuke*; Maeda, Koshi*; Aoi, Yusuke*; Tamura, Akihiro*; Arai, Shoji*; Yamamoto, Yuhei*; Aosai, Daisuke*; Mizuno, Takashi   

Eu(III) sorption on granite was examined by the combined microscopic and macroscopic approaches. Polished thin sections of the granite were reacted with solutions containing 10 M of Eu(III) and analyzed using EPMA and LA-ICP-MS. The Eu enrichment up to 6 wt.% was observed on most of the biotite grains. The Eu-enriched parts commonly lose K, which is the interlayer cation of biotite, indicating that the sorption mode is cation exchange in the interlayer. Batch Eu(III) sorption experiments on granite and biotite powders were conducted. The macroscopic sorption behavior of biotite was consistent with that of granite. The obtained sorption edges can be reproduced reasonably by the modeling considering single-site cation exchange reactions. Granite is complex mineral assemblages. However, the combined microscopic and macroscopic approaches revealed that elementary reactions by single phase can be representative for the bulk sorption reaction in complex mineral assemblages.