Studies on uranium recovery from inlet stream of Effluent Treatment Plant by novel “In-House” sorbent

Abstract

“In-House” resin Polyacrylhydroxamic acid (PHOA) has been synthesized and utilized targeting ground water remediation; recovery of uranium from low concentration aqueous solution e.g., mining activities related water, flooding of excavated or deplumed areas, nuclear plant washed effluent and process generated effluents in nuclear plant during front-end as well as back-end treatment. In the present study, treatment of field effluent containing heavy metals and radio-nuclides from contaminated mining sites reflected preference for uranium with respect to manganese. The specific complexation between the extractant and metal ion especially uranium provides high distribution co-efficient (K _d) for uranium (K _d,U = 1,450 mL/g from inlet of Effluent Treatment Plant (ETP) and K _d,U = 74,950 mL/g for synthetic solution) compared to high level impurity (1,000 times higher concentration) of manganese (K _d,Mn = 111 mL/g from inlet of ETP and K _d,Mn = 10,588 mL/g for synthetic solution). The “In-House” resin showed significant extractability (70–95% elution efficiency) and indicates a possibility of selective removal/recovery of the valuable metal ions even from secondary sources. As a specialty, resin can be regenerated and reused.