Removal of barium and radium from groundwater. Environmental research brief

A research project was undertaken to investigate processes for removing barium and radium from drinking water. Special emphasis was placed on ion exchange processes that can be used without adding large concentrations of sodium to the water. The wastes from radium and barium removal processes were also characterized, and processes suitable for treatment of ion-exchange brines were evaluated. The report discusses two ion-exchange processes that can be used for barium and radium removal accompanied by either partial or no hardness removal. The calcium-form, strong-acid ion-exchange resin can be used for barium and radium removal without significant change in hardness or the concentration of other salts. This resin can be regenerated with CaC1/sub 2/ brine. The radium-selective complexer (RSC) will remove radium without altering hardness or other salt concentration. The capacity of this resin for waters with low total dissolved solids (TDS) (<1000 to 2000 mg/L TDS) is in excess of 30,000 pCi/dry g; however, if the TDS is increased to about 40,000 mg/L, the capacity drops to 200 to 300 pCi/dry g. Thus using this resin to remove radium from spent brine does not appear feasible.