The ongoing boom of industrialization is conflicted by concerns regarding increased levels of environmental contamination, in particular the uncontrolled release of heavy metal ions and radionuclides into soils and groundwater systems. The extent of contamination can be substantial, hence ways to remediate and reduce the volume of waste for further treatment and ultimate disposal are highly desired. In the current study, flotation has been considered as an engineering solution to rapidly separate cesium contaminated clays from low-level contaminated and pristine clays. Cesium (Cs⁺) sorption by montmorillonite clay particles was considered over a range of ionic concentrations (0.01–500 mM), showing a multistage sorption isotherm that can be interpreted using a two-site model, which considers both interlayer ion-exchange and specific ion sorption on the clay basal planes at higher cesium concentrations. Assessment by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and zeta potential confirmed the increased surface contamination with increasing Cs⁺ concentration, with the surface enrichment sufficiently altering the surface chemistry of the contaminated clays for them to favourably interact with the flotation collector, ethylhexadecyldimethyl-ammonium-bromide (EDAB). Within a critical concentration range of EDAB, the cesium contaminated clays were separated from pristine clays using flotation, with recovery efficiencies of ∼75% for the contaminated clays, compared to <25% for the pristine clays. When contaminated and pristine clays were blended, separation by flotation once again demonstrated excellent selectivity for the contaminated clays. The current study highlights the potential for flotation to rapidly treat contaminated clay rich soils and significantly reduce the volume of contaminated solids for further treatment or ultimate disposal.

持续的工业化繁荣与对环境污染水平的提高（特别是重金属离子和放射性核素不受控制地释放到土壤和地下水系统中）的担忧相冲突。污染程度可能很大，因此，迫切需要补救和减少废物量以进行进一步处理和最终处置的方法。在当前的研究中，浮选已被认为是一种将铯污染的粘土与低污染的原始粘土快速分离的工程解决方案。铯（Cs ⁺）蒙脱土粘土颗粒的吸附被认为是在一定的离子浓度范围（0.01–500 mM）范围内，显示出多级吸附等温线，可以用两点模型解释，该模型同时考虑了层间离子交换和特定离子的吸附。铯浓度较高时的粘土基面。通过X射线光电子能谱（XPS）和Zeta电位进行的评估证实，随着Cs ⁺的增加，表面污染增加。浓缩，表面富集足以改变被污染粘土的表面化学，使其与浮选捕收剂乙基十六烷基二甲基溴化铵（EDAB）发生良好相互作用。在EDAB的临界浓度范围内，使用浮选法将铯污染的黏土与原始黏土分离，污染黏土的回收率为〜75％，而原始黏土的回收效率为<25％。当将受污染的粘土和原始粘土混合时，通过浮选分离再次证明了对受污染的粘土具有出色的选择性。当前的研究强调了浮选的潜力，可以快速处理受污染的富含粘土的土壤，并显着减少受污染的固体量，以进行进一步处理或最终处置。