It is difficult to selectively separate and uptake small amounts of K
+ from seawater in the presence of a large amount of Na
+. During investigation of the cation-exchange characteristics of inorganic ion exchangers, we have discussed that K
⇔ in aqueous solution are strongly held on some synthetic fluorine tetrasilicic micas by a cation-exchange reaction at room temperature.
From among the successfully synthesized micas, sodium ion-exchanged hectorite, Na
1/
3Mg
8/
3Li
1/
3Si
4O
10F
2·H
2O (Na
+H), and sodium ion-exchanged taeniolite, NaMg
2LiSi
4O
10F
2·2H
2O (Na
+T), were found to be promising. Their removal behaviors of K
+ from model aqueous solutions, apractical seawater, and some brines were examined by normal batch methods.
It was found that ⇔ exchange isotherm of Na
+T rises steeply and attains plateau above the diagonal line in low-concentration region of K
+, which reveals that K
+ are extremely preferred to Na
+ in the low-concentration region. The order of K
+ selectivity was Na
+H<<Na
+T in the lowcollcentration region. Further, the Na
+T was found to selectivity take up a regular amount of K
+independent of the concentrations of Na
+ and K
+ in solution.
It is concluded that Na
+T can be utilized in the separation and uptake of K
+ from seawater (K
+ 370ppm, Na
+ 10,600ppm).
View full abstract