Recovery of molybdenum from uranium raffinate solution containing phosphorus

ABSTRACT

Ion exchange-predominance precipitation process was brought forward to extract Mo from P and sulfate system. Adsorption property and effect law were studied, and the adsorption mechanism was discussed. Influence relation of predominance precipitation for calcium salt was calculated, and corresponding verification tests were conducted. The results indicated that preliminary separation of P and Mo was realized by employing of D380 resin and the further removal of P from the qualified Mo eluted by strongly alkaline was achieved through predominant precipitation. Mass fraction of P in calcium molybdate product was 1 –2% and the recovery rate of Mo could reach to 98%. Under the technological background of uranium extraction, this study solved the problem of extracting trace Mo from the high P system and realized the separation of Mo from P and a small amount of U.

KEYWORDS:

• Phosphorus
• molybdenum
• separation
• uranium
• ion exchange-precipitation

Additional information

Funding

This work is financially supported by China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC).