Extraction of uranium from sea water by method of dispersion and deposition

The extraction of uranium from sea water by the adsorption on the mixture of titanic acid and bentonite making the uranium rich deposit on the sea bottom is described. The purpose of this work is the minimization of energy required for contacting the vast volume of sea water with the adsorbent. Unique features of bentonite are applied to the coagulation of adsorbent forming the particles of suitable size in the sea water to make uranium rich deposit on the sea bottom close to the land. The concentration of uranium in the deposit is about 380 times that of sea water, and the loss of titanium is about 2% of the total amount of titanium which is used with the bentonite of ten times as much as it. The depths of sea necessary to make uranium rich deposit for the various conditions were calculated and the result was obtained that 50 m was sufficient for this method. As a trial of the second stage of concentration of deposited uranium, the continuous RIP method was carried out in counter-current fluidized bed which was operated without reversal of flow. The results reported in this paper are based on the laboratory scale experiments using the artificial sea water and on the calculations concerned with the rate of adsorption in agitated systems. (author)