Study on uranium leaching from uranium purification residue with ammonium hydrogen fluoride

Residues generated from the uranium purification process, characterized by a high uranium content, pose a significant challenge for recovery through leaching and present a considerable environmental threat. After using XRD and SEM-mapping characterization analysis combined with the BCR continuous graded extraction test to analyze the content of different states of uranium, it was found that the main reason why the uranium in the residue was difficult to leach because it was encapsulated by SiO2 crystals. Using NH4HF2 as a leaching agent, a leaching study of uranium in the residue was carried out, and the results showed that the H+ and F- produced by NH4HF2could react with SiO2, destroying the crystal lattice of SiO2 and causing the encapsulated uranium to come into contact with the leaching agent, facilitating the leaching of uranium in the residue. The optimum conditions for uranium leaching were 10% mass fraction of NH4HF2, a liquid-solid ratio of 30:1, a reaction temperature of 30 °C and a reaction time of 120 min, and the leaching efficiency of uranium from the residue was as high as 98.95%. The leaching kinetics of uranium by NH4HF2 were consistent with the mixed controlled model in the shrinking core models, indicating that the surface chemical reaction and mass diffusion dominated both uranium leaching processes. This may provide a viable method for resource recovery and the treatment of uranium purification residues.

Rapid recovery of high pure PbO from spent lead acid battery without desulfation and chemicals consumption method

The direct recovery of high-purity PbO from spent lead paste without a pre-desulfation process has significant industrial promise. Herein, we propose a recyclable, ultra-fast, and high value-added closed-loop of high-purity PbO recovery process by intensive multidentate coordination of histidine with crude 2PbO·PbSO4 by a rotating liquid-film (RLF) reactor and CO2 carbonation-dissociation. Parameter optimizations and kinetic calculations show the leaching time is shortened from 40 min to 60 s with 99.14 % leaching rate and 99.99 % PbO purity by internal diffusion control, where the RLF reactor promotes mass transfer and reaction rates by instantly renewing the surface of crude 2PbO·PbSO4. Furthermore, all 5 batches reveal that the separation of SO42- ions from the regenerated mother liquid with Ba(OH)2 significantly improves the recycling rate of the mother liquid and high-purity PbO product. This new strategy reveals a bright prospect of a highly efficient, high value-added, and environmentally friendly recycling route for solid waste resources.

Ultra-Fast Recyclable and Value-Added Desulfation Method for Spent Lead Paste via Dual Intensification Processes

The new low-cost clean pre-desulfation technology is very important in pyrometallurgy and hydrometallurgy. However, traditional reactors have low space-time yield and desulfation rate, resulting in high energy consumption and SO2 emissions in the industrial desulfation processes. Herein, dual rotating liquid film reactors (RLFRs) and lime are proposed to construct a recyclable, ultra-fast, and value-added desulfation method. Parameter optimization and kinetic calculations prove that the above reactions are controlled by internal diffusion, revealing that RLFR promotes the mass transfer and reaction rate. The new process greatly shortens the desulfation time of lead paste from 40 min to 10 s with a high desulfation rate of 99.7%, and the sulfation time of lime from 30 min to 30 s with a sulfation rate of 98.6% with a net profit of 55.99 ¥/ton by cost accounting. Moreover, ten batches of continuous scale-up experiments demonstrate the stability of processes, the desulfation and sulfation rates are kept at 99.7% and 98.2%, which greatly reduces the emissions of waste desulfate liquor. This work provides a new universal strategy for a sustainable, low-cost, and clean desulfation method of waste resources to achieve technical and economic feasibility.

Fe-Ti bimetal oxide adsorbent for removing low concentration H2S at room temperature

ABSTRACTHerein, a series of Fe-Ti bimetal oxide adsorbents were prepared by reduction-co-precipitation method, and their performance in removing low concentration H₂S at room temperature was investigated. The adsorbents were characterized by X-Ray diffraction (XRD), Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), Ultraviolet Visible diffuse reflectance spectroscopy (UV-Vis-DRS), X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and N₂ adsorption-desorption. The results showed that the addition of Ti increased the specific surface area, pore volume and small oligomeric Fe₂O₃ of ferrihydrite. When the Fe/Ti molar ratio was 8:1, Fe-Ti bimetal oxide formed a large amount of oligomeric Fe₂O₃, and its specific surface area and pore volume reached 344.99 m²/g and 0.34 cm³/g, respectively. At this time, Fe-Ti bimetal oxide exhibited the highest breakthrough sulfur capacity of 222.8 mg/g. High temperature calcination caused Fe-Ti bimetal oxide to form small specific surface area and pore volume, and produced crystalline α-Fe₂O₃. And the breakthrough sulfur capacity of Fe-Ti bimetal oxide decreased with the increasing calcination temperature. In addition, the desulfurization process conformed to the unreacted shrinking nucleus model.

Enhanced activity and sulfur resistance of Cu- and Fe-modified activated carbon for the reduction of NO by CO from regeneration gas

The reduction of NO by CO was proposed to be applied for regeneration gas to remove NOx from industrial flue gas with activated carbon purification technology.