Study of effectiveness of strongly basic anion exchange resins in the process of uranium extraction from the underground leaching productive solution

The process of uranium sorption is one of the important stages in the production of uranium. This stage affects uranium extraction effectiveness from productive solutions. The sorption and desorption characteristic of anion exchange resins in dynamic condition were investigated in order to study the effectiveness of resins, which were used for extraction of uranium from sulfuric acid productive solution. The sorption and desorption of uranium from the productive solution on anion exchange resins AB-17 and DOWEX 1X8 200 was carried out in laboratory conditions. The sorption characteristics were investigated. The determined sorption capacities of the resins were 1.47 and 14.4 mg/mL, respectively. The most efficient anion exchanger is DOWEX 1X8 200 that has a high sorption capacity as well as good desorption characteristics, which make it possible to obtain solutions having 23 times higher uranium concentrations than in productive solutions.