Process for uranium recovery using anion exchange resin
View Patent ↗The present invention relates to a process for the recovery of uranium in high silica environments comprising the use of a strong base macroreticular ion exchange resin.
1. A process comprising:
a) obtaining a uranium and silica containing sample;
b) leaching the uranium and silica containing sample to form a leachate wherein the leachate contains
(i) greater than or equal to 100 mg SiO 2 /liter; and
(ii) dissolved uranium
b) removing the dissolved uranium from the material using at least one strong base macroreticular anion exchange resin to obtain a uranium product in combination with the strong base macroreticular anion exchange resin; and
c) eluting and recovering the uranium product from the combination in step b).
2. The process of claim 1 wherein the dissolved uranium is obtained by leaching the uranium and silica containing sample with sulfuric acid.
3. The process of claim 1 wherein the composition of the strong base macroreticular ion exchange resin comprises styrene-divinylbenzene containing functional quaternized ammonium groups.
4. The process of claim 1 wherein the strong base macroreticular anion exchange resin has a porosity of from 0.15 to 0.50 ml/ml.
5. The process of claim 1 wherein the strong base macroreticular anion exchange resin has an average pore diameter from 100 to 400 Angstroms.
6. The process of claim 1 wherein the uranium product is eluted with at least one agent selected from the following: ammonium nitrate, sodium chloride or sulfuric acid.
7. The process of claim 1 wherein the uranium product is recovered by precipitation extraction in step c).
8. The process of claim 1 wherein the uranium product is recovered by solvent extraction followed by precipitation extraction.
9. The process of claim 1 wherein the leachate contains from 100 to 3000 mg SiO 2 /liter.