Reduksi Torium pada Limbah Cair Pengolahan Monasit Menggunakan Resin Penukar Anion

Abstract

The effect of separating rare earths from monazite is wastewater containing the radioactive element thorium which is harmful to the environment and living things. A standard method of separating thorium from wastewater is with anion-exchange resin. This study determines the optimum type of anion-exchange resin, resin weight, and contact time to reduce thorium levels in monazite wastewater. The results showed that the optimum exchange rate that occurred in Amberlite IRA402 resin is 57.7%, at 60 minutes and 1 gram. Meanwhile, the optimum exchange rate for Tulsion A23 resin is 50.7%, at 50 minutes and 1 gram. The statistical test showed that there was no significant difference in the resin type and contact time variation, which showed a considerable value >0.05. At the same time there was a substantial difference in resin mass variation with a significant value <0.05. The Duncan test stated that lighter resin masses (0.25 and 0.5 gram) are suitable for Tulsion A23 and heavier resin masses (0.75 and 1 gram) are ideal for Amberlite IRA402.

Keywords

• thorium
• wastewater
• monazite
• anion-exchange resin
• spectrophotometer uv-vis