Separation and Extraction of Uranium from Leach Liquor Containing Uranium and Molybdenum by Solvent Extraction with LIX 622N

The leach liquor (0.5g/L Mo, 0.05g/L U) obtained from the leaching process of molybdenum-uranium ore material was treated using solvent extraction to recover U(VI) by LIX 622N, which is a salicylaldoxime derivative. The influence of various basic variables such as pH, concentration of LIX 622N, temperature, different stripping reagents, phase ratio, and diluents was examined. Using 10% LIX 622N with the aqueous solution of equilibrium pH 6.0 and a phase ratio organic phase:aqueous phase (O:A)=1:1, a two-stage McCabe-Thiele plot was constructed, which showed 99.9% of U extraction with no co-extraction of molybdenum. This was confirmed by a 6-cycle counter current simulation (CCS) study. The obtained data of temperature on the extraction of uranium showed that the extraction process is exothermic with enthalpy change of -20.949kJmol(-1). The stripping of U(VI) was quantitative using 4M H2SO4. The stable complex UO2(HSO4)R-org formed during extraction, which supports the cation exchange mechanism, and was confirmed by FTIR spectral analysis.