A Study on the extraction of uranium(VI) from sulphate leach liquor using LIX63

ABSTRACT

The sulphate leach liquor obtained from the sulphuric acid leaching process of Egyptian monazite was treated using solvent extraction to recover U(VI) by LIX63. The influence of various basic variables such as pH, concentration of LIX63, temperature, different stripping agent, phase ratio and diluents was examined. Using 10% LIX63 with the aqueous solution at equilibrium pH 5.5 and a phase ratio A/O = 1/1, a four-stage McCabe-Thiele plot was constructed, which showed 85.57% of U(VI) extraction. The thermodynamic data showed that the extraction process is exothermic with enthalpy change ΔH = − 43.866 kJ/mol, the stripping of U(VI) was quantitative using 4 M HNO₃. The stable complex UO₂(HSO₄)R_org formed during extraction which supports the cation exchange mechanism was confirmed by FTIR spectral analysis. Uranium cake was finally obtained from the strip solution by the addition of hydrogen peroxide and ammonium hydroxide as precipitating agents, and a workable flowsheet was then formulated.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

KEYWORDS:

• Egyptian monazite
• extraction
• LIX63
• precipitation
• stripping
• Uranium(VI)