Chemical speciation of inorganic compounds under hydrothermal conditions. 1998 annual progress report

'To obtain the chemistry of metallic solute ions under aqueous and hydrothermal conditions in order to obtain key insights pertinent to the removal of toxic wastes. Elements present in Hanford tank wastes will be investigated to get a better understanding of how the high temperatures involved in vitrification will affect the hydrolysis-polymerization reaction. In the following summary of the x-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) measurements under aqueous and hydrothermal conditions, most measurements below the critical temperature (375 C) were taken at about 200 bar pressure, while at supercritical temperatures the pressure was about 600 bar. Chemistry of Na{sub 2} WO{sub 4} Under Aqueous and Hydrothermal Conditions Tungsten, molybdenum, vanadium and, to a lesser agree, chromium, niobium and tantalum form isopolymetallates, polymeric species of rather complicated structure and complex chemical equilibria, in aqueous solution upon acidification. Except Tantalum, all of these elements are present in the Hanford tank wastes and it is not well understood how the high temperatures involved in vitrification will affect the hydrolysis-polymerization reaction. In March 1998, the authors launched a series of XAFS experiments to resolve these questions. Measurements were obtained for 0.2 molal tungstate solutions as a function of temperature (to 200 C) and as a function of starting pH. The outcome of these measurements is providing key insights into this chemistry as follows: (1) A change from tetrahedral to octahedral coordination of the oxygen atoms around the tungsten center atom can be detected upon increasing extent of polymerization. (2) At least one new feature shows up in the Fourier Transform of the k-weighted Chi plot (closely related to a radial distribution function) which is unambiguously attributed to a tungsten-tungsten scattering path, only present in the polymeric species. (3) Perhaps most interestingly, the XAFS data indicate a higher extent of polymerization at higher temperatures for a given starting pH.