Organic polymer aggregate for the separation of uranium from mining water

Description of the procedure

A characteristic of the new process is the combination of known methods for precipitating the radium and arsenic compounds with uranium separation using the GoPur® 3000 polymer aggregate. The process sequence is divided into the joint separation of the radioactive water components radium and uranium and the separate precipitation of the toxic arsenate . First, a barium sulfate precipitation is triggered in the weakly acidic water by dosing a soluble barium compound, in which the radium compounds are bound by co-precipitation. Then, without isolating the sulphate precipitate, it is flocked with the GoPur® 3000 polymer aggregate.

The specific chemical structure of the polymer aggregate guarantees not only a highly effective complex binding of the uranium, but also intensive floc formation through molecular aggregation. The radioactive flakes are separated by sedimentation. In a second stage, the arsenic can be precipitated as iron arsenate in the water which has then been pre-cleaned and also separated by sedimentation. The polymer aggregate can be recovered by simple dissolving and washing processes of the radioactive sludge.

Scheme of the combined process for separating radioactive and toxic compounds from mining water

The advantages at a glance

• reliable procedure
• low running costs
• simple process control
• high separation efficiency

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