Leaching-of-uranium-and-thorium-from-red-mud-using-sequential-extraction-methods

Seediscussions,stats,andauthorprofilesforthispublicationat:https://www.researchgate.net/publication/258220598LeachingofuraniumandthoriumfromredmudusingsequentialextractionmethodsArticleinFreseniusEnvironmentalBulletin·September2013CITATION1READS2942authors,including:HannianGuChineseAcademyofSciences5PUBLICATIONS11CITATIONSSEEPROFILEAllin-textreferencesunderlinedinbluearelinkedtopublicationsonResearchGate,lettingyouaccessandreadthemimmediately.Availablefrom:HannianGuRetrievedon:21August2016©byPSPVolume22–No9a.2013FreseniusEnvironmentalBulletin2763LEACHINGOFURANIUMANDTHORIUMFROMREDMUDUSINGSEQUENTIALEXTRACTIONMETHODSHannianGu1,2andNingWang1,*1LaboratoryforHighTemperature&HighPressureStudyoftheEarth'sInterior,InstituteofGeochemistry,ChineseAcademyofSciences,Guiyang,Guizhou,550002,PRChina2UniversityofChineseAcademyofSciences,Beijing,100049,PRChinaABSTRACTRedmudcanbegeneratedduringproductionofalu-minafrombauxiteusingBayerprocessorsinteringalu-minaprocess.Thespecificchemicalandmineralcompo-sitionofdifferentredmudishighlydependentonthenatureoftheparentbauxiteoreandtheprocessingpa-rameters.Thedisposalofredmudposesanissueofgreatimportancewithsignificantenvironmentalconcerns.Asmajornaturalradioactiveelements,uraniumandthoriumrestricttheuseofredmudasbuildingmaterialsoraddi-tives,andthreattheenvironmentbecauseoftheirradio-toxicityandchemicaltoxicity.Inviewofthetoxicnatureofuraniumandthoriumthedisposalofredmudneedspriorevaluation.TheconcentrationsanddistributionsofUandThinBayerredmud(BRM)andredmudfromsinter-ingaluminaprocess(RMS)fromGuizhou,China,werestudiedusingsequentialextractionmethods.ThetotalleachabilityofUinBRMandRMSwasabout80%and50%,respectively,whiletheleachabilityofThduringsequentialextractioninBRM(about15%)andRMS(about22%)wasmuchlower.KEYWORDS:Redmud,Uranium,Thorium,Leachability,Sequentialextraction1INTRODUCTIONRedmudisasolidwasteby-productofbauxiteproc-essingforaluminaproductionusingBayerprocessorsinteringaluminaprocess.About90%ofaluminaintheworldisobtainedbyBayerproc