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Language: English

Conflict of Interest: In relation to this article, we declare that there is no conflict of interest.

Publication history: Received November 9, 2025
Revised January 26, 2026
Accepted April 5, 2026
Available online July 25, 2026

This is an Open-Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync/3.0) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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SOHIO Process Legacy Waste Treatment: Antimony(V) Removal from Sulfate Media Using Organic Polymeric Ion Exchange Resins

Richard I. Foster^1† James T. M. Amphlett^{2 3} Kwang-Wook Kim¹ Clint A. Sharrad^{4 5} Keunyoung Lee¹

Nuclear Research Institute for Future Technology and Policy, Seoul National University ¹Decommissioning Technology Research Division, Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute ²Department of Nuclear and Quantum Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology ³Nordic Salt Cycle ⁴Department of Chemical Engineering, The University of Manchester ⁵Dalton Nuclear Institute, The University of Manchester

rifoster@snu.ac.kr

Korean Journal of Chemical Engineering, July 2026, 43(9), 2593-2609(17)
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11814-026-00720-4

Abstract

The feasibility of employing an ion-exchange resin for the recovery of antimony(V) from an industrial waste effluent has

been investigated. The source of the effluent is a treatment process designed to reduce the volume of a spent uraniumantimony

catalyst prior to its immobilisation and disposal in South Korea; known as the SENSEI Process. Commercial

macroporous-type cation (Strong acid cation, Mitsubishi DIAION PK216) and anion (Strong base anion Type I, Mitsubishi

DIAION PA316; Strong base anion Type II, Mitsubishi DIAION PA418) exchange resins, as well as macroporous-type

chelation resins (Aminophosphonic acid, Lanxess LEWATIT TP260; Sulfonic-phosphonic acid, Purolite MTS957) have

undergone batchwise screening. LEWATIT TP260 showed the best antimony removal from sulfuric acid solutions across

the entire [H+

] range tested (0.01 mM – 2 M) and showed no loss of removal performance as a function of increasing

sulfate concentration at high [H+

]. The Hill isotherm model produced the best fit for antimony binding to LEWATIT

TP260 (Adj. R2=0.9969), corresponding to an equilibrium adsorption capacity of 160.55 mg g−1. Second order kinetics

(Adj. R2=0.9808) best described the kinetic uptake of antimony onto the TP260 resin indicating a chemisorption mechanism.

The presence of phosphate [PO4

3−] had a negligible impact on antimony removal by TP260, however, the presence

of molybdate [MoO4

2−] and silica, both found in the SENSEI effluent stemming from the original catalyst, significantly

reduced the performance of TP260.

Keywords

Antimony · Ion Exchange · Amino Phosphonic Acid · Sulfate Media · Effluent Treatment · SOHIO Process