Studies on the Recovery of Uranium from Phosphoric Acid Medium by D2EHPA/n-Dodecane Supported Liquid Membrane

Present studies deal with the application of supported liquid membrane (SLM) technique for the separation of uranium (VI) from phosphoric acid medium using Di-2 ethyl hexyl phosphoric acid (D2EHPA)/n-dodecane as a carrier and ammonium carbonate as a receiving phase. The studies involve the investigation of process controlling parameters like feed acidity of phosphoric acid, carrier concentration, stripping agents, and the effect of thickness and the pore size of the membrane. The transport of uranium decreases with increase in the concentration of phosphoric acid in feed solution whereas it increases with increase in carrier concentration in supported liquid membrane. More than 90% uranium (VI) is recovered in 360 minutes using 0.5M D2EHPA/dodecane as carrier and 0.5M ammonium carbonate as stripping phase from the 0.001M H3PO4 feed. Lower concentration of phosphoric acid and higher carrier concentration is found to be the most suitable condition for maximum transport of uranium (VI) from its lean sources like commercial phosphoric acid and analytical wastes generated from the analysis of uranium by Volumetric (Davis-Gray) method.