Electrically switched cesium ion exchange

Electrically Switched Ion Exchange (ESIX) is a separation technology being developed as an alternative to conventional ion exchange for removing radionuclides from high-level waste. The ESIX technology, which combines ion exchange and electrochemistry, is geared toward producing electroactive films that are highly selective, regenerable, and long lasting. During the process, ion uptake and elution are controlled directly by modulating the potential of an ion exchange film that has been electrochemically deposited onto a high surface area electrode. This method adds little sodium to the waste stream and minimizes the secondary wastes associated with traditional ion exchange techniques. Development of the ESIX process is well underway for cesium removal using ferrocyanides as the electroactive films. Films having selectivity for perrhenate (a pertechnetate surrogate) over nitrate also have been deposited and tested. A case study for the KE Basin on the Hanford Site was conducted based on the results of the development testing. Engineering design baseline parameters for film deposition, film regeneration, cesium loading, and cesium elution were used for developing a conceptual system. Order of magnitude cost estimates were developed to compare with conventional ion exchange. This case study demonstrated that KE Basin wastewater could be processed continuously with minimal secondary waste and reduced associated disposal costs, as well as lower capital and labor expenditures

Electrically switched cesium ion exchange. FY 1996 annual report

An electrochemical method for metal ion separations, called Electrically Switched Ion Exchange, is described. Direct oxidation and reduction of an electroactive film attached to an electrode surface is used to load and unload the film with alkali metal cations. The electroactive films under investigation are Ni hexacyanoferrates, which are deposited on the surface by applying an anodic potential to a Ni electrode in a solution containing the ferricyanide anion. Reported film preparation procedures were modified to produce films with improved capacity and stability. Electrochemical behavior of the derivatized electrodes were investigated using cyclic voltammetry and chronocoulometry. The films show selectivity for Cs in concentrated sodium solutions. Raman spectroscopy was used to monitor changes in oxidation state of the film and imaging experiments have demonstrated that the redox reactions are spatially homogenous across the film. Requirements for a bench scale unit were identified

Predation on seeds of the seagrass Posidonia australis in Western Australia

Despite much evidence that predation governs seed abundance, and ultimately seedling and adult plant distribution and abundance in terrestrial ecosystems, there is a dearth of information from seagrass dominated ecosystems. We report here on the first study to examine predation rates from seeds of Posidonia australis measured during field tethering experiments at 5 locations in Western Australia. Seeds that were recently dehisced from ripe fruits and at a similar stage of development were tethered in seagrass and adjacent unvegetated sand for 24 h and then assessed for damage. Seed predation was noted at all sites and ranged from partially to completely eaten seeds. Higher daily proportional damage was observed in seagrass (34 to 53%) than on unvegetated sand (3 to 20%), but was significantly greater at only 3 of the 5 sites. There was no significant difference in proportional mortality for seeds among seagrass meadows, whereas in sand, there was a significant site effect. While we were unable to identify specific seed predators, the type of damage we observed on the seeds suggest small fish or invertebrates are the primary causative agents. Our results add to the growing body of evidence that seagrass seed predation does occur, that it has the potential to affect recruitment, and has implications for understanding the dynamics of P. australis meadows. Finally, our data present an interesting contrast to the paradigm for seagrass faunal studies, which almost invariably have shown higher proportional mortality in bare sand than in seagrass

Electrically switched cesium ion exchange. FY 1997 annual report

This paper describes the Electrically Switched Ion Exchange (ESIX) separation technology being developed as an alternative to ion exchange for removing radionuclides from high-level waste. Progress in FY 1997 for specific applications of ESIX is also outlined. The ESIX technology, which combines ion exchange and electrochemistry, is geared toward producing electroactive films that are highly selective, regenerable, and long lasting. During the process, ion uptake and elution can be controlled directly by modulating the potential of an ion exchange film that has been electrochemically deposited onto a high surface area electrode. This method adds little sodium to the waste stream and minimizes the secondary wastes associated with traditional ion exchange techniques. Development of the ESIX process is well underway for cesium removal using ferrocyanides as the electroactive films. Films having selectivity for perrhenate (a pertechnetate surrogate) over nitrate also have been deposited and tested. Based on the ferrocyanide film capacity, stability, rate of uptake, and selectivity shown during performance testing, it appears possible to retain a consistent rate of removal and elute cesium into the same elution solution over several load/unload cycles. In batch experiments, metal hexacyanoferrate films showed high selectivities for cesium in concentrated sodium solutions. Cesium uptake was unaffected by Na/Cs molar ratios of up to 2 x 10{sup 4} , and reached equilibrium within 18 hours. During engineering design tests using 60 pores per inch, high surface area nickel electrodes, nickel ferrocyanide films displayed continued durability. losing less than 20% of their capacity after 1500 load/unload cycles. Bench-scale flow system studies showed no change in capacity or performance of the ESIX films at a flow rate up to 13 BV/h, the maximum flow rate tested, and breakthrough curves further supported once-through waste processing. 9 refs., 24 figs

Interplay between magnetism and band topology in Kagome magnets RMn6Sn6

Kagome-lattice magnets RMn6Sn6 recently emerged as a new platform to exploit the interplay between magnetism and topological electronic states. Some of the most exciting features of this family are the dramatic dependence of the easy magnetization direction on the rare-earth specie, despite other magnetic and electronic properties being essentially unchanged, and the Kagome geometry of the Mn planes that in principle can generate flat bands and Dirac points; gapping of the Dirac points by spin-orbit coupling has been suggested recently to be responsible for the observed anomalous Hall response in the member TbMn6Sn6. In this paper, we address both issues with density functional calculations and are able to explain, with full quantitative agreement, the evolution of magnetic anisotropy, including a complete reversal upon adding an f-electron with zero magnetic orbital quantum number when going from Ho to Er. We also show the microscopic origin of this computational result using a simple and physically transparent analytical model. We analyze in detail the topological properties of Mn-dominated bands and demonstrate how they emerge from the multiorbital planar Kagome model. We further show that, despite this fact, most of the topological features at the Brillouin zone corner K are strongly 3D, and therefore cannot explain the observed quasi-2D AHE, while those few that show a quasi-2D dispersion are too far removed from the Fermi level. We conclude that, contrary to previous claims, Kagome-derived topological band features bear little relevance to transport in RMn6Sn6, albeit they may possibly be brought to focus by electron or hole doping.This is a pre-print of the article Lee, Y., R. Skomski, X. Wang, P. P. Orth, A. K. Pathak, B. N. Harmon, R. J. McQueeney, and Liqin Ke. "Interplay between magnetism and band topology in Kagome magnets RMn6Sn6." arXiv preprint arXiv:2201.11265 (2022). DOI: 10.48550/arXiv.2201.11265. Copyright 2022 The Authors. Posted with permission