| NUKLEONIKA 2012, 57(4):451-459
EXTRACTION OF URANIUM FROM LOW-GRADE POLISH ORES: DICTYONEMIC SHALES AND SANDSTONESKinga Frąckiewicz1, Katarzyna Kiegiel1, Irena Herdzik-Koniecko1, Ewelina Chajduk1, Grażyna Zakrzewska-Trznadel1, Stanisław Wołkowicz2, Jadwiga Chwastowska1, Iwona Bartosiewicz 1 1 Institute of Nuclear Chemistry and Technology, 16 Dorodna Str., 03-195 Warsaw, Poland 2 Polish Geological Institute-National Research Institute, 4 Rakowiecka Str., 00-975 Warsaw, Poland Leaching studies were performed to develop a suitable method for extraction of uranium from domestic uranium ores: dictyonemic shales and sandstones. The extracting procedure was composed of successive separation steps: crushing and grinding, acid or alkaline leaching, solid-liquid separation, and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) analyses of post-leaching solutions. The influence of such process parameters as temperature, pressure, particle size of solid material, kind of leaching solution and its concentration, on the recovery efficiency of uranium and accompanying metals were tested. The efficiency of uranium leaching with sulphuric acid solution achieved 81%. Satisfactory results were obtained for the alkaline leaching process. It was found that uranium can be selectively extracted by the alkaline leaching solution. Almost complete extraction of uranium from sandstones was achieved when a mixture of sodium carbonate and sodium hydroxide, with hydrogen peroxide as a leaching solution was used. Close X |