Sodium Carbonate vs Bicarbonate vs SulphateFeb 22, 2024 — An alkaline leach circuit (sodium carbonate and bicarbonate) will be used to dissolve uranium and vanadium from the leach feed minerals. I'm reading 2 kinds of solvents for leaching.
Were the two solvents accommodating 10% primary and 90% secondary ------> U6+ ?
Re: Coffinite responded well to alkaline carbonate.
But only 10% measured for resource ?
Grades were far higher yrs ago' avg 0.15% U
vs
Current grade 0.038% U
2012 WNA estimate and grade ( 0.15% ) U
170 mllion lbs uranium
Let's factor only 10 primary
= 17 million lbs
What the current 2024 resource lb ?
16.5 million lbs U
Above 2024 lb calculations kind of points to...
No coffinite included
Yet... 2 types of solvents are used ( just saying )
Coffinite ( U6+ uranyl ) O bonds mote the U with 6 outer O electron valance
Oxygen = hold electrons = neg similar to beta- ( minus ) opposite alpha +
Each oxygen atom has 6 valence electrons in its outer energy level. When two oxygen atoms get close to each other, the attractions from the nucleus of both atoms attract the outer electrons. In this case, two electrons from each atom are shared. This is called a double bond. Jul 30, 2024 https://www.acs.org/middleschoolchemistry/lessonplans/chapter4/lesson4.html Other articles deny oxygen having electrons.
I disregard those article knowing O has strong affinity = ability bond.
I stick to articles that address O's electron valance.
Electrons are needed to bridge the bonds.
The latest price of Soda Ash $346 usd T How about Sulphate ? Anhydrous Sodium Sulfate. $70.00 - $90.00 usd T $256 usd ( savings per T ) Why Sulphate ? One-step extraction and solidification of uranium (VI) from sulfate leaching liquor using bifunctional ionic liquids
Highlights
- •
One-step extraction and solidification of U(VI) driven by [DODMA]+[DGA]- was developed.
- •
The process was promoted by strong interaction of uranyl ions and carbonyl groups of [DGA]- anions.
- •
The selectivity of uranium versus 18 main metal ions in the leaching liquors were investigated. - •
Over three orders of magnitude of SFU/M were obtained for U(VI) over 13 elements.
Abstract
Three bifunctional [DODMA]
+[DGA]
- ionic liquids were synthesized starting from [DODMA]+[Cl]
- surfactant and N,
N-dialkyl-diglycolamide acid (DGA), which were employed for extraction of U(VI) from real leach solution. The simultaneous purification and solidification of uranium (VI) were realized in one-step process in sulfuric acid medium, and the extracted solid captured more than 99 % uranium (VI) was found to aggregate at the biphasic interface. XPS, FT-IR, ESI-MS and TGA analysis revealed that U(VI) ions were assembled into uranium-containing solids by coordination of uranyl ions and dicarbonyl groups of [DGA]- anions using amphiphilic property of [DODMA]
+ cations. An unusual multi-step extraction mechanism by anionic exchange was proposed to elucidate the excellent selectivity for U(VI).
The present bifunctional ionic liquids exhibited the high affinity for U(VI) compared to 18 main elements assayed in ore leaching liquor. The key interfering ions such as Fe(III) and V(V) were hardly extracted to enrich in the extracted solid, and the good separation factors were obtained in 280 for U/Fe and 117 for U/V. Without further back-extraction, final precipitation and other relevant operation, the proposed one-step strategy was considered as a sustainable or promising process for easier recovery of U(VI) in sulfate leaching liquor. Conclusions
In this study, a novel strategy based on liquid-liquid extraction was firstly established for simultaneous purification and solidification of uranium (VI) from the real leach solution. The
extracted solid enriched more than 99 % of uranium from the aqueous solution was obtained using [DODMA]
+[DGA]
- by simple filtration process. The spectra analyses revealed that the extraction process was promoted by the strong interaction of uranyl ions and carbonyl groups of [DGA]
- anions. [DODMA]
+[DGA]
Link https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2213343723000180
Our current U extraction recovery is ------> 85%
Vanadium ------> 53%
Roasting vanadium prior increases extraction exponentially.
World Nuclear Association 2019 -
57% of worlds uranium was mined using ISL
USA ( ISL ) in situ
sulphate leach most cost effective and environmentally acceptable.
https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/mining-of-uranium/in-situ-leach-mining-of-uranium