Separation of uranium from weak phosphoric acid using di-nonyl phenyl phosphoric acid in combination with tri-n-butyl phosphoric acid

Abstract

A process has been described for the extraction of uranium from weak phosphoric acid using di-nonyl phenyl phosphoric acid in combination with synergistic reagent tri-n-butyl phosphate. The effect of process parameters including concentrations of extractant and phosphoric acid has been studied. A plausible extraction mechanism has been established using slope analysis technique. The enthalpy change for extraction process, ΔH, was determined for the solvent with and without synergistic reagent. Based on the optimised parameters batch counter current extraction and stripping have been studied and the uranium recovery was found to be ∼80%.