2014-Sustainable Industrial Processing Summit
SIPS 2014 Volume 4: Recycling & Secondary Battery
| Editors: | Kongoli F |
| Publisher: | Flogen Star OUTREACH |
| Publication Year: | 2014 |
| Pages: | 498 pages |
| ISBN: | 978-1-987820-06-5 |
| ISSN: | 2291-1227 (Metals and Materials Processing in a Clean Environment Series) |
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Recovery of valuable metals from the waste from uranium production and processing of secondary materials
Grazyna Zakrzewska-Koltuniewicz1;1INSTITUTE OF NUCLEAR CHEMISTRY AND TECHNOLOGY, Warsaw, Poland;
Type of Paper: Regular
Id Paper: 49
Topic: 5
Abstract:
The increasing interest in nuclear power worldwide has led to rising uranium demand. The uranium industry revival has stimulated renewed uranium resources exploration and mining activities. New sources of primary uranium will focus on exploration and exploitation of lower grade ore bodies. Secondary resources are also taken into account. This implicates the searching for low-energy mining methods, as well as economic ore treatment routes in order to minimize uranium recovery costs. Simultaneous extraction of accompanying metals like rare earth elements or other valuable components improves the economy of processing and minimizes yellowcake recovery costs from low-grade deposits. Modern technologies are needed to recover these metals with high efficiency from low-grade resources.
The research project concerned the recovery of valuable metals, like vanadium, molybdenum and lanthanides, in parallel with uranium extraction, from poor uranium ores and industrial waste, like residues from the copper industry and phosphate rocks processing. The main goal of the studies is the development of the technology that allows recovery of the metals at reasonable costs and low environmental impact. The novel leaching routes, new methods for solvent extraction as well as hybrid processes for separation and purification of the product were studied. The flow-sheets of the technology, which involved chemical and physical separation methods, were elaborated. Such processes like solid-liquid extraction, solvent extraction, ion exchange and membrane permeation were tested. Recycling of the materials, namely heavy metals and radioactive species will reduce environmental impact. It will have a sensible, economical dimension too.