Recovery of Uranium from Phosphoric Acid: A Review

Abstract

Uranium is an indispensible material for the generation of electricity by nuclear reactors. The depletion of primary uranium ore bodies has rekindled interest in recovering uranium from other sources to bridge the gap between supply and demand. Rock phosphate is an important secondary source of uranium that offers dual advantages not only to provide uranium for energy production, but also prevents the soils and crops from radioactive contamination. The present review is the compilation of literature reports on the processes for recovery of uranium from phosphoric acid origin by different techniques with an emphasis on solvent extraction technology. The pre-and post-treatment of phosphoric acid were also highlighted together with a history of different extractant systems employed for uranium recovery. Recent developments in evaluating the new extractant molecules for effective separation of uranium from phosphoric acid solution have also been elaborated. With an eye on the different extractants or solvent systems that were studied earlier for uranium extraction from phosphoric acid, factors affecting the extractant moiety are also reviewed to provide insight upon emerging novel extractants to be explored in the future endeavor of solvent designers or synthesizers.

Extraction and adsorption of U(VI) from aqueous solution using affinity ligand-based technologies: an overview

“…There are also other organic phosphorus compounds derivatives being studied in different laboratories as extractants to recover uranium, including trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO), dihexyl-N,N-diethylcarbamoyl-methylphosphonate (CMP), di-2ethylhexyl phosphoric acid (D2EHPA), monododecyl phosphoric acid (DDPA), glycerophosphate, and dibutyl butyl phosphonate (DBBP). Singh et al (2016) elaborated the development of these organic phosphorus compounds for uranium extraction from phosphoric acid.…”

On the Sustainability and Progress of Energy Neutral Mineral Processing

“…In the short term this environmental impact of nuclear power can partly be reduced if uranium is extracted as a byproduct from another primary ore. Again, phosphate rock is used as an example to illustrate the environmental impact of uranium byproduct extraction vs. traditional uranium mining and milling. Uranium byproduct extraction from merchant grade phosphoric acid, an intermediate product during WPA processing, has been practiced on an industrial scale in the past [43][44][45][46] and is at the edge of being profitable again today [47][48][49]. Phosphate rocks contain considerable amounts of accompanying uranium in quantity and concentration [50][51][52][53][54].…”

New organic compounds detection and potential removal in crude phosphoric acid using waste sludge

“…Organic compounds present in phosphoric acid have a negative impact on the quality and the quantity of the produced phosphoric acid whereas they give a dark color to the produced acid and affect the crystallization of the phosphogypsum (Singh et al 2016;Taha et al 2019). Furthermore, organic compounds result in serious operating problems during the application of liquid-liquid method for the recovery of uranium from phosphoric acid as well as the purification of phosphoric acid, whereas organic compounds accumulates and coagulates heavly at the interfacial area between the phosphoric acid and organic solvent which leads to the losses of the organic solvent and negatively impact on the process economy (Dissanayake and Chandrajith 2009;Awwad et al 2013;Singh et al 2016;El Naggar et al 2019). Also, organic compounds forms stable toxic complexes with the harmful elements in the phosphoric acid, which accumulate in the environment as a result of the continuous application of phosphate fertilizers and also transfer to the human body through the food chain (Fayiga and Nwoke 2016;Taha et al 2019).…”

“…Accordingly, the reduection of the organic compound from phosphoric acid is an important process in respect to improve the quality of phosphoric acid and produce eco-friendly fertilizers. Various methods were applied for the reduction of organic compounds from crude phosphoric acid for example liquidliquid extraction or sorption (Awwad et al 2013;Hamza et al 2013;Singh et al 2016;Fawzy et al 2018;El Naggar et al 2019). Several materials were investigated for achieving this proposes such as clays (Hamza et al 2015;Singh et al 2016) and activated bio-chars (El Naggar et al 2019;Taha et al 2019).…”