Determining the effects of Gamma irradiation on the oxidation state of Iron using Mossbauer Spectroscopy
EMSL Project ID
16690
Abstract
Gamma irradiation is an efficient technique for sterilizing materials. It is sometimes used to sterilize soil samples because it results in few to no physical changes in the soil while effectively killing 99.99% of soil microorganisms. However, some chemical changes may occur in the soil due to the exposure to gamma rays. Batch sorption experiments and measured cation exchange capacities of soils before and after exposure to gamma rays indicate that a change in the chemical state of the soils is occurring. It has been suggested that the free radicals formed by gamma irradiation may alter the oxidation state of Fe in soil samples (Brey et at., 2001). We propose an experiment that will investigate the oxidation state of Fe in soil samples pre- and post- exposure to 20kGy of gamma irradiation using Mossbauer spectroscopy.
Project Details
Project type
Exploratory Research
Start Date
2005-10-31
End Date
2007-06-07
Status
Closed
Released Data Link
Team
Principal Investigator
Team Members
Related Publications
Bank TL, RK Kukkadapu, AS Madden, ME Baldwin, and PM Jardine. 2008. "Effects of gamma-sterilization on the physico-chemical properties of natural sediments." Chemical Geology 251(1-4):1-7. doi:10.1016/j.chemgeo.2008.01.003