Performance evaluation of hollow fiber renewal liquid membrane for extraction of uranium(VI) from acidic sulfate solution

The performance of the hollow fiber renewal liquid membrane (HFRLM) in the continuous and recycling modes for the extraction of uranium(VI) from the acidic sulfate solution has been investigated. Alamine 336 diluted in kerosene was used as a carrier in liquid membrane (LM) phase. In the batch experiments, the effects of sulfuric acid, extractant and uranium(VI) concentration were studied and the optimum concentration of the donor and LM phases were determined 0.15 mol L −1 and 0.0125 mol L −1 , respectively. Various parameters affecting the HFRLM performance including the lumen and shell side flow rate, organic/aqueous volume ratio, acceptor phase type and concentration of carrier and acceptor phase were studied. The mass transfer flux increases with increasing the lumen side flow rates and the shell side flow rate did not have any significant effect. The uranium transfer flux increases with increasing O/A ratio, acceptor and Alamine 336 concentration, and reaches a maximum value at 1/20, 0.5 mol L −1 and 0.0125 mol L −1 , respectively. Further increase in these parameters result in uranium transfer decrement. The results show that liquid membrane phase is a rate-controlling step. Among the investigated acceptor phases, 0.5 mol L −1 NH 4 Cl result in 60.35% uranium(VI) recovery in the recycling mode.