Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2011
Sorption experiments were performed with iodide, cesium and strontium ions on MX-80 Wyoming-bentonite treated with hexadecylpyridinium (HDPy+) in amounts equivalent to 0.2 - 4.0 times the cation exchange capacity (CEC) using 125I- 134Cs+ and 85Sr2+ as tracers. In HDPy-bentonite, iodide exhibited increasing adsorption, while cesium and strontium ions showed decreasing adsorption with increasing organophilicity. It was also found that the Cs+affinity to original and HDPy-bentonite was considerably higher than that of Sr2+ ions. HDPy+ uptake in increasing concentrations resulted in a pronounced expansion of the basal spacings (d002 reflex at 2.78 nm) and in a change of the negative particle surface charge to positive values.