Uranium recovery from industrial effluent by ion exchange - column experiments

Abstract

The recovery of uranium from nuclear industrial effluent has been studied using laboratory column and polymeric ion exchange resin. The industrial effluent, at pH around 10, contains uranium (40 mg/L), ammonium (80 g/L) and carbonate (170 g/L) and cannot be discharged without previous treatment. Uranium is in the form of uranyl quadrivalent complex anions [UO2(CO3)3]4-. The resin IRA 910 U was employed for its specific application for uranium extraction. Adsorption was carried out at flow rate of 1.0, 2.0, and 5.0 mL/min, which corresponds to a retention time of 10, 5.0 and 2.5 min, respectively.