Physical chemical processes utilize chemicals or chemical properties of surfaces to chemically reduce or physically extract the radionuclides based on chemical charge or size. Processes that have been tried include the use of specialized ion exchange resins, chemical oxidation and adsorption columns. Mechanisms and materials employed include the following.

Adsorption

This is the most widely used among the available processes. It is primarily used for the removal of soluble organics with activated carbon serving as the adsorbent. Removal of organics on the adsorbent surfaces is mostly predicted by the Freundlich Isotherm:

y = kclln 15.1

where y = adsorbent capacity, mass pollutant/mass carbon, c = concentration of the pollutant in waste (mass/volume), and k and n = empirical constants.

Other non-linear models are also available that are applicable under par­ticular conditions.