Recovery of uranium from alkaline ore (Tummalapalle) leach solution using novel precipitating method

The aim of present study is recovery of uranium from such ore leach solution containing < 1g/L of uranium. Uranium is precipitated from Tummalapalle ore leach solution having a uranium concentration of 0.74 g/L as magnesium di uranate in presence of excess amount of sodium hydroxide at 55℃. The ore leach solution is acidified at pH ∼ 7 to decompose carbonate and bicarbonate and excess NaOH was added in solution in presence of trace amount of MgO to precipitate all uranium as MgU2O7 at pH ∼12.5. The average particle size of the MgU2O7 particles was 20 micron and overall uranium recovery was 97%. The composition of final precipitate was characterized using XRD and surface morphology was studied using SEM