The investigation in MMAJ and MITI in Japan is partially introduced. Experimental results are reported on adsorption characteristics of a granulated hydrous titanium oxide selected as a good adsorbent and post adsorption process.
The equilibrium of adsorption has a linear relationship when plotted on a logarithmic scale. But the complete equilibrium values could not be obtained. Many kinds of adsorbents were tested, but hydrous titanium oxide is the best because of high adsorption rate, non-toxicity, chemical stability and mechanical strength. The adsorption rate is given by the formula
C=
ktmwhere
t is in days. And this value is influenced by flow-rate, granule size and temperature.
At present, a multi-bed system with pump is preferred for adsorption. A carbonate solution for eluting uranium from adsorbent has been studied, and the concentration of uranium in the eluate is kept above 10 ppm. During pre-washing and post-washing, 1.2 bed volume of water can remove 90% of salt. Calcium carbonate is accumulated during sorption and elution cycles, but its influence in the sorbent is relatively small. Electric dialysis with ion exchange membrane has been proposed for the recovery of carbonate, and uranium loss is negligible while more than 95% of the carbonate is recovered.
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