Study of aluminothermic slag leaching for uranium and thorium recovery

VANDERLEI VILAÇA MOURA; Talita Santos; Claubia Pereira

doi:10.15392/2319-0612.2022.2002

Study of aluminothermic slag leaching for uranium and thorium recovery

Authors

VANDERLEI VILAÇA MOURA Departamento de Engenharia Nuclear, Escola de Engenharia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais
Talita Santos UFMG - Faculdade de Medicina - MED-DEPTO DE ANATOMIA E IMAGEM
Claubia Pereira UFMG - Escola de Engenharia - Departamento de Engenharia Nuclear

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.15392/2319-0612.2022.2002

Keywords:

uranium oxide, thorium oxide, leaching

Abstract

The need for energy by modern society is increasing. On the other hand, it is necessary to reduce costs and environmental impact. In this perspective, the recovery of uranium present in industrial waste from the processing of naturally occurring radioactive material (NORM) appears as a possible complement to the mining stage of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle. NORM's uranium recovery can reduce environmental liabilities and mineral processing costs (especially blasting, crushing, and grinding). The industrial residue of this study, a type of aluminothermic slag, comes from the metallurgical processing of columbite (niobium and tantalum mineral) and has a content, measured by X-ray fluorescence, of 1.78% of U₃O₈. This content is higher, for example than those found in Lagoa Real-BA (0.2% in rock) and Santa Quitéria-CE (0.1% in rock). Another material that will be studied is ThO₂, which is also present in the slag with a content, measured by X-ray fluorescence, around 3.66%. The process parameters analyzed were pH of the solution, time, granulometry and percentage of solids. The metallurgical recovery of U₃O₈ reached a maximum value of 71,3% with pH = 1, time of 8 hours, 65 % percentage of solids, and 200 µm of granulometry. The metallurgical recovery of ThO₂ reached a maximum value of 69,7% with pH = 1, time of 8 hours, 65 % percentage of solids, and 200 µm of granulometry.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

VANDERLEI VILAÇA MOURA, Departamento de Engenharia Nuclear, Escola de Engenharia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

Doutorando em Ciências e Técnicas Nucleares (Departamento de Engenharia Nuclear UFMG). Mestre em Ciências e Técnicas Nucleares (Departamento de Engenharia Nuclear UFMG). Título da dissertação: Avaliação da Radioatividade Natural do Granito Madeira - Região Norte do Amazonas. Supervisor de Proteção Radiológica área de mineração NORM (CNEN-MI005) e medidores nucleares (CNEN-MN1515). Possui graduação em Física pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (1999). Atualmente atua como supervisor de proteção radiológica - Mineração Taboca. Tem experiência na área de Física, com ênfase em PROTEÇÃO RADIOLÓGICA, atuando principalmente nos seguintes temas: proteção radiológica, dosimetria, papel da divulgação científica, ensino de ciências e divulgação da ciência. Atuou como professor de ensino médio de matemática e física durante 10 anos. Atuou como coordenador pedagógico e coordenador da área de ciências da natureza, matemática e suas tecnologias. Aprovado no mestrado em ensino de física - PUC Minas (interrompido). Tem experiência na área de Física, com ênfase em PROTEÇÃO RADIOLÓGICA, atuando principalmente nos seguintes temas: proteção radiológica, dosimetria, descomissionamento, mínero-industrial e atividade específica.

References

WORLD NUCLEAR ASSOCIATION. The Harmony Programme, https://world-nuclear.org/our-association/what-we-do/the-harmony-programme.aspx, 2019.

INDÚSTRIAS NUCLEAREAS DO BRASIL. INB Santa Quitéria – Consórcio Santa Quitéria, http://www.inb.gov.br/A-INB/Onde-estamos/Santa-Quiteria, 2020.

SAP - SYSTEMS, APPLICATIONS AND PRODUCTS IN DATA PROCESSING. SAP SE, Walldorf-Germany, 2017.

PRESIDÊNCIA DA REPÚBLICA – CASA CIVIL. Lei No 10.308, de 20 de Novembro de 2001, Diário Oficial da União, Brasília – Brazil, 2001.

V. V. MOURA, T. O. SANTOS, C. LIMA e P. B., “Study of the Physical Properties of Aluminothermic Slags for the Recovery of Uranium and Thorium,” Anais da 2019 International Nuclear Atlantic Conference - INAC 2019, Santos, 2019.

HABASHI, F. A Textbook of Hidrometallurgy. Saint-Foy: Métallurgie Extractive Québec, Enr., 1993.

C. K. GUPTA. Chemical Metallurgy, Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim-Germany, 2003.

IBRAHIM, M. E. et al. Processing of the mineralized Black Mica for the recovery of uranium, rare earth elements, niobium, and tantalum. Hydrometallurgy, Amsterdã, v. 197, novembro 2020. doi.org/10.1016/j.hydromet.2020.105474. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hydromet.2020.105474

V. S. T. CIMINELLI, Hidrometalurgia, Tendências Parte 2, Belo Horizonte, 2007, pp. 157-174.

DUTRA, I. C.; LEITE, V. D. Influência da granulometria e do pH no processo de dessorção de amônia em torres de recheio. Revista DAE, São Paulo, p. 25-37, janeiro 2015. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4322/dae.2014.138

MORAIS, C. A.; GOMIERO, L. A.; FILHO, W. S. Leaching of uranium ore from Caetité's facilities, Bahia state, Brazil. In: YOUNG, C. A.; TAYLOR, P. R.; ANDERSON, C. G. Hydrometallurgy 2008: Proceedings of the Sixth International Symposium. 1ª. ed. Englewood-EUA: Society for Mining Metallurgy & Exploration, v. 1, 2008. p. 1119-1132. ISBN: 0873352661.

J. C. B. S. AMARAL e C. A. MORAIS, “Thorium and Uranium extraction from rare Earth elements in monazite sulfuric acid liquor through solvente extraction,” Minerals Engineering, 2010. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mineng.2010.01.003

BARROS NETO, B.; SCARMINIO, I. S.; BRUNS, R. E. Como Fazer Experimentos - Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento na Ciência e na Indústria. Campinas: Editora da Unicamp, 2001. ISBN 85-268-0544-4.

Downloads

Published

2022-12-04

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 3B (Suppl.) (2022): XV ENAN 2021

Section

INAC 2021_XV ENAN

License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Licensing: The BJRS articles are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

How to Cite

Study of aluminothermic slag leaching for uranium and thorium recovery. Brazilian Journal of Radiation Sciences, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, v. 10, n. 3B (Suppl.), 2022. DOI: 10.15392/2319-0612.2022.2002. Disponível em: https://www.bjrs.org.br/revista/index.php/REVISTA/article/view/2002.. Acesso em: 27 apr. 2024.