Study on uranium peroxide precipitation in a continuous fluidized-bed reactor with mechanical stirring

Abstract

This study provides the results obtained from the experiments carried out in a specially adapted continuous fluidized-bed reactor equipped with a multi-impeller stirring device. The influence of operating parameters on yellow cake precipitation as uranium peroxide was studied. The effects of stirring speed and feed flow rate were investigated. An increased stirring speed decreased the agglomerate mean size, mainly due to the strong negative influence of the shear rate on the agglomeration kinetics. In addition, the nominal capacity of the fluidized-bed reactor was doubled, while the uranium concentration level was strictly respected at the outlet. The experimental results obtained in this study will be used for process modeling in a further study.