Solid-Liquid Extraction of Uranium from Nitrate Medium using Macroporous Cation Exchange Resin; Kinetics and Thermodynamics Studies
Ahmed A. Abdelsamad
Abstract:
Sorption characteristics of uranium onto the strongly acidic cation exchanger, Purolite C100, were investigated. Uranium sorption capabilities of the adsorbent were estimated by Batch experiments under different conditions; pH, contact time, uranium initial concentration, temperature, adsorbent dose, interfering ions, and agitation speed. The characteristics of Purolite C100 were determined using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and FTIR spectra. Also, the sorption kinetics and equilibrium parameters were determined. At the optimum conditions, the adsorption capacity of uranium was found to be nearly 175 mg/g. The kinetics and isotherm studies could show that the uranium sorption onto Purolite C100 is following the pseudo-second-order model. Uranium sorption is fitted with Langmuir isotherm. Thermodynamic studies indicated an exothermic behavior with an increase in randomness. The studied procedure was used for uranium ions removal from the raffinate solution obtained from the solvent extraction unit, Nuclear Materials Authority, Egypt.