Recovery and treatment of uranium from uranium-containing solution by liquid membrane emulsion technology

The recovery and treatment of uranium from uranium-containing solution using liquid membrane emulsion (LME) technology were studied in this paper, which contained the best volume ratio of membrane materials, stirring speed during emulsion process, the conditions of extracting, such as temperature, pH, initial concentration of uranium. Moreover, the mechanism for extracting uranium was also discussed. The best experimental conditions of emulsifying were acquired. The volume fractions of P₂₀₄ and liquid paraffin are 0.1 and 0.05, the volume ratios of Span80 and sulphonated kerosene to P₂₀₄ are 0.06 and 0.79 respectively, stirring speed is controlled in 2 000 r/min, and the concentration of inner phase is 4 mol/L. The recovery rate of uranium is up to 99% through the LME extracted uranium for 0.5 h at pH 2.5 and room temperature when the initial concentration is less than 400 mg/L and the volume ratio is 5 between the uranium-containing waste water and LME. The calculation results of Gibbs free energy show that the reaction process is spontaneous. (authors)