Uranium Recovery from Phosphoric Acid with Selective Resins

Uranium may be recovered more economically as a by-product of wet process phosphoric acid than by conventional extraction from ores. A solvent-extraction process for recovering uranium from phosphoric acid has already been developed and tested. However, a method based on solid ion exchange resins will offer several advantages over the liquid extractant system, the major ones being the ease of separating the reactants from the products and the ability to recycle the extractants. For this purpose solvent impregnated resins which combine the extractive properties of liquid extractions with the bead form of polymeric ion exchangers, were developed. Warshawsky and Vernon described the method of physical adsorption by commercial resins, while R. Kroebel and Meyer synthesized selective resins by impregnation with extractants during polymerization. This paper describes the properties of the synthesized resin in relation to the conditions of synthesis and also the performance of some of these resins in columns. (Edited author abstact)