Potential uranium supply from phosphoric acid: A U.S. analysis comparing solvent extraction and Ion exchange recovery
Abstract
Phosphate rock contains significant amounts of uranium, although in low concentrations. Recovery of uranium as a by-product from phosphoric acid, an intermediate product produced during the recovery of phosphorus from phosphate rock, is not unprecedented. Phosphoric acid plants ceased to produce uranium as a by-product in the early 1990s with the fall of uranium prices. In the last decade, this topic has regained attention due to higher uranium prices and expected increase in demand for uranium. Our study revisits the topic and estimates how much uranium might be recoverable from current phosphoric acid production in the United States and what the associated costs might be considering two different recovery processes: solvent extraction and ion exchange. Based on U.S. phosphoric acid production in 2014, 5.5 million pounds of U3O8 could have been recovered, more than domestic U.S. mine production of uranium in the same year. Annualized costs for a hypothetical uranium recovery plant are US$48-66 per pound U3O8 for solvent extraction, the process used historically in the United States to recover uranium from phosphoric acid. For ion exchange, not yet proven at a commercial scale for uranium recovery, the estimated costs are US$33-54 per pound U3O8. Our results suggest that itmore »
- Authors:
-
- Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States). Division of Economics
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Nuclear Energy (NE)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1357599
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1325316
- Report Number(s):
- INL/JOU-15-37419
Journal ID: ISSN 0301-4207; PII: S0301420716301428
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC07-05ID14517
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Resources Policy
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 49; Journal Issue: C; Journal ID: ISSN 0301-4207
- Publisher:
- Elsevier
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS; Uranium as By-Product; Uranium from Phosphoric Acid; Uranium Supply
Citation Formats
Kim, Haeyeon, G. Eggert, Roderick, W. Carlsen, Brett, and W. Dixon, Brent. Potential uranium supply from phosphoric acid: A U.S. analysis comparing solvent extraction and Ion exchange recovery. United States: N. p., 2016.
Web. doi:10.1016/j.resourpol.2016.06.004.
Kim, Haeyeon, G. Eggert, Roderick, W. Carlsen, Brett, & W. Dixon, Brent. Potential uranium supply from phosphoric acid: A U.S. analysis comparing solvent extraction and Ion exchange recovery. United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2016.06.004
Kim, Haeyeon, G. Eggert, Roderick, W. Carlsen, Brett, and W. Dixon, Brent. Thu .
"Potential uranium supply from phosphoric acid: A U.S. analysis comparing solvent extraction and Ion exchange recovery". United States. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2016.06.004. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1357599.
@article{osti_1357599,
title = {Potential uranium supply from phosphoric acid: A U.S. analysis comparing solvent extraction and Ion exchange recovery},
author = {Kim, Haeyeon and G. Eggert, Roderick and W. Carlsen, Brett and W. Dixon, Brent},
abstractNote = {Phosphate rock contains significant amounts of uranium, although in low concentrations. Recovery of uranium as a by-product from phosphoric acid, an intermediate product produced during the recovery of phosphorus from phosphate rock, is not unprecedented. Phosphoric acid plants ceased to produce uranium as a by-product in the early 1990s with the fall of uranium prices. In the last decade, this topic has regained attention due to higher uranium prices and expected increase in demand for uranium. Our study revisits the topic and estimates how much uranium might be recoverable from current phosphoric acid production in the United States and what the associated costs might be considering two different recovery processes: solvent extraction and ion exchange. Based on U.S. phosphoric acid production in 2014, 5.5 million pounds of U3O8 could have been recovered, more than domestic U.S. mine production of uranium in the same year. Annualized costs for a hypothetical uranium recovery plant are US$48-66 per pound U3O8 for solvent extraction, the process used historically in the United States to recover uranium from phosphoric acid. For ion exchange, not yet proven at a commercial scale for uranium recovery, the estimated costs are US$33-54 per pound U3O8. Our results suggest that it is technically possible for the United States to recover significant quantities of uranium from current phosphoric acid production. And for this type of uranium production to be economically attractive on a large scale, either recovery costs must fall or uranium prices rise.},
doi = {10.1016/j.resourpol.2016.06.004},
journal = {Resources Policy},
number = C,
volume = 49,
place = {United States},
year = {Thu Jun 16 00:00:00 EDT 2016},
month = {Thu Jun 16 00:00:00 EDT 2016}
}
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
Other availability
Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.
Works referenced in this record:
Recovery of Uranium from Wet Phosphoric Acid by Solvent Extraction Processes
journal, November 2014
- Beltrami, Denis; Cote, Gérard; Mokhtari, Hamid
- Chemical Reviews, Vol. 114, Issue 24
Simultaneous extraction of rare earth elements and uranium from phosphoric acid
journal, April 1992
- Bunuş, F.; Dumitrescu, R.
- Hydrometallurgy, Vol. 28, Issue 3
Simultaneous recovery and separation of uranium and rare earths from phosphoric acid in a one-cycle extraction-stripping process
journal, June 1994
- Bunuş, F.; Miu, I.; Dumitrescu, R.
- Hydrometallurgy, Vol. 35, Issue 3
Investment and future mineral production
journal, March 1982
- Crowson, P. C. F.
- Resources Policy, Vol. 8, Issue 1
Uranium extraction enhancement form phosphoric acid by emulsion liquid membrane
journal, July 2013
- Elsayed, H. M.; Fouad, E. A.; El-Hazek, N. M. T.
- Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, Vol. 298, Issue 3
Building future nuclear power fleets: The available uranium resources constraint
journal, December 2013
- Gabriel, Sophie; Baschwitz, Anne; Mathonnière, Gilles
- Resources Policy, Vol. 38, Issue 4
Uranium fuel as byproduct of phosphate fertilizer production
conference, March 2010
- Ragheb, Magdi; Khasawneh, Mohammed
- 2010 1st International Nuclear & Renewable Energy Conference (INREC)
Uranium, the Hidden Treasure in Phosphates
journal, January 2014
- Schnug, Ewald; Haneklaus, Nils
- Procedia Engineering, Vol. 83
Uranium endowments in phosphate rock
journal, April 2014
- Ulrich, Andrea E.; Schnug, Ewald; Prasser, Horst-Michael
- Science of The Total Environment, Vol. 478
Phosphorus demand for the 1970–2100 period: A scenario analysis of resource depletion
journal, August 2010
- Van Vuuren, D. P.; Bouwman, A. F.; Beusen, A. H. W.
- Global Environmental Change, Vol. 20, Issue 3
Works referencing / citing this record:
Direct leaching of rare earth elements and uranium from phosphate rocks
text, January 2019
- Al Khaledi, Nahhar; Taha, M.; Hussein, A.
- RWTH Aachen University
On the Sustainability and Progress of Energy Neutral Mineral Processing
journal, January 2018
- Reitsma, Frederik; Woods, Peter; Fairclough, Martin
- Sustainability, Vol. 10, Issue 1
Selective Extraction of Rare Earth Elements from Phosphoric Acid by Ion Exchange Resins
journal, August 2018
- Hérès, Xavier; Blet, Vincent; Di Natale, Patricia
- Metals, Vol. 8, Issue 9
Direct leaching of rare earth elements and uranium from phosphate rocks
journal, February 2019
- Al Khaledi, N.; Taha, M.; Hussein, A.
- IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, Vol. 479