Abstract
The work described was aimed at an analysis of the principal factors affecting the adsorption of 60Co ions onto a peat from Lin Tao County (in the south of Gansu Province, P. R. China). The adsorption of 60Co ions onto the peat was studied as a function of contact time, ratio of solution volume (V) to solid mass (m), pH, ionic strength and the initial concentration of Co ions. It was found that the relative adsorption rate was quite rapid, that adsorption gradually decreased with increasing values of V/m and that ionic strength had a moderate effect on the process. In addition, the pH value strongly influenced the extent of adsorption. Over the high concentration range, the adsorption equilibrium could be described by the Freundlich equation, with this equation being reduced to the Henry equation, i.e. a linear adsorption isotherm, over the low concentration range. No attempt has been made at understanding the mechanism of 60Co ion adsorption onto peat in the present work.