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Leaching, purification and extraction of uranium from salcrete deposits - Egypt

S.A.Wanees, A.M.Daher, Y.S.A.Haroun, M.M.Gouda, A.M.Abdulla, A.H.Ali

In this work chemical process for the elaboration of uranium concentrate fromuraniumore has been studied. This process is composed of successive units operations: collecting ores, crushing,milling, acidic leaching, filtrationwashing, purification-concentration by solvent extraction and uranium precipitation. In last few years, organophosphorus compounds have found wide application in nuclear establishments for the extraction; enrichment and reprocessing of uranium. The acid leaching operating conditions allow obtaining a recovery uranium rate of 84.62%. The uranium concentration of the pregnant solution is approximately of 202 ppm after washing the tailing with distilled water. This value justifies the use of solvent extraction technique to the concentration-purification of the pregnant solution. To avoid the precipitation of uranium, the pH has been fixed at 2.24.We have obtained at this condition good extraction efficiency. The extraction efficiency of uranium from the pregnant solution by using DEHPA and TBP as modifier in kerosene was found to be about 98 %. We have also recovered or stripped 100 % of the uranium loaded on the organic solvent using a solution of 4 % Na2CO3.