A cascade electro-dehydration process for simultaneous extraction and enrichment of uranium from simulated seawater

Ruirui Li; Huangying Wang; Junying Yan; Rong Fu; Baoying Wang; Chenxiao Jiang; Yaoming Wang; Tongwen Xu

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2023.120079

A cascade electro-dehydration process for simultaneous extraction and enrichment of uranium from simulated seawater

Water Res. 2023 Jul 15:240:120079. doi: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120079. Epub 2023 May 18.

Authors

Ruirui Li¹, Huangying Wang¹, Junying Yan¹, Rong Fu¹, Baoying Wang¹, Chenxiao Jiang¹, Yaoming Wang², Tongwen Xu³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Applied Chemistry, Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Functional Membrane Science and Technology, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Applied Chemistry, Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Functional Membrane Science and Technology, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: ymwong@ustc.edu.cn.
³ Department of Applied Chemistry, Anhui Provincial Engineering Laboratory of Functional Membrane Science and Technology, School of Chemistry and Materials Science, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: twxu@ustc.edu.cn.

PMID: 37224666
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2023.120079

Abstract

Uranium extraction from seawater has become a crucial issue that has raised tremendous attention. The transport of water molecules along with salt ions through an ion-exchange membrane is a common phenomenon for typical electro-membrane processes such as selective electrodialysis (SED). In this study, a cascade electro-dehydration process was proposed for the simultaneous extraction and enrichment of uranium from simulated seawater by taking advantage of water transport through ion-exchange membranes and the high permselectivity of membranes for monovalent ions against uranate ions. The results indicated that the electro-dehydration effect in SED allowed 1.8 times the concentration of uranium with a loose structure CJMC-5 cation-exchange membrane at a current density of 4 mA/cm². Thereafter, a cascade electro-dehydration by a combination of SED with conventional electrodialysis (CED) enabled approximately 7.5 times uranium concentration with the extraction yield rate reaching over 80% and simultaneously desalting the majority of salts. Overall, a cascade electro-dehydration is a viable approach, creating a novel route for highly effective uranium extraction and enrichment from seawater.

Keywords: Electro-dehydration; Enrichment times; SED-CED integrated operation; Selective electrodialysis; Uranium extraction from seawater.

MeSH terms

Cations
Dehydration
Humans
Seawater / chemistry
Uranium* / analysis
Water

Substances

Uranium
Cations
Water