Sciencemadness Discussion Board

Uranium from phosphate ore?

Dr. Beaker - 9-9-2005 at 13:12

Hi ppl
I can get access to unlimited ammts. of phosphate ore. I know that it contain Uranium:cool: (probably phospate, or silicate) to some (very small) extent.
Any ideas hwo to extract it?
I'm very interested in actinide chem.

p.s and no, I'll not try to isolate the 235 isotope.

some ideas that poped in my mind...

Dr. Beaker - 9-9-2005 at 14:55

I guess acidic extraction and then chelating U+n (+3 probably) specie with large organic ligand that solable in dichloromethane or such (the complex must have very very low decomp. const).
another way can be ion exchange maybe? but I'll still have to seperate it from Ca Mg Fe and other di or tri valent metals
electrochem. is not an option since U has very high red. potintal and very low con.

coments? suggestions?

p.s I appologize for my English. It's not my native lang.

akinmad - 10-9-2005 at 04:40

Quote:
Originally posted by Dr. Beaker
Hi ppl
I can get access to unlimited ammts. of phosphate ore. I know that it contain Uranium:cool: (probably phospate, or silicate) to some (very small) extent.
Any ideas hwo to extract it?
I'm very interested in actinide chem.

p.s and no, I'll not try to isolate the 235 isotope.


Enrico Fermi's patent no 2708656 gives some insights into leaching of Uranium from uranium ores. HTH

thanx for the help, but

Dr. Beaker - 10-9-2005 at 05:31

sadly:(, I've calculated in the mean time that actually I'll have to deal with TONS of the ore since the U conc. there is some ppm. so its impractical even to get mgs. of U that way.
However, I knwo that there are some special steals that contain U as a hardening additive. maybe I should put my efforts this way...

12AX7 - 10-9-2005 at 08:53

Hm, never heard of uraniated steel, technetium yes, and thorium (1% or so) in magnesium alloys, but not steel. ???

Tim

Dr. Beaker - 10-9-2005 at 09:06

U're right there is indeed no U in steel, but there is U coated steels in the weapons industry: depleted Uranium
so there is no actual source of U I know about that can be used...

neutrino - 10-9-2005 at 16:54

If you live in the US, this could be of help.

praseodym - 10-9-2005 at 23:40

Quote:
Originally posted by Dr. Beaker
Hi ppl
I can get access to unlimited ammts. of phosphate ore. I know that it contain Uranium:cool: (probably phospate, or silicate) to some (very small) extent.
Any ideas hwo to extract it?

Generally, the ore is treated with a solvent, usually sulphuric acid, to dissolve the uranium compound in the ore. Uranium is then recovered from the solution by chemical precipitation or by ion-exchange or solvent-extraction methods. Usually uranium oxide is produced, so it has to be reduced to the metal if necessary.

Dr. Beaker - 11-9-2005 at 02:49

thanks,
I was surprised to find out that U metal is beenig sold freely, however, since I don't live in the US and after 9/11 (which is today, ironically) I don't think importing it will be good idea )if you see what I mean). so i guess I'll have to try my luck with the ore

pbmann123 - 20-9-2005 at 18:47

ok well i guess i will post my inquiry here...

i would like to know the most sutable method to produce uranium (u-233, u-235, u-238, all of 'em) from UO2, UO3, U2O5, U3O8. by sutable i mean the most ecomomically feasable way to produce roughly one kilogram of uranium metal. i have pitcheblende ore of about 38% uranium concentration..

Jome - 2-10-2005 at 11:43

Perhaps the U is unevenly distributed in the ore, like in chunks of pitchblende or something similar. If you have a geiger counter, test the different minerals found in the ore.

Perhaps aluminutermic reduction followed by removal of resudial Al and Al2O3 by NaOH would work to get U-metal from its oxides?

IrC - 5-10-2005 at 16:17

These links may be of use, although I rather suspect that your uranium is in the form of vandates. He is going after radium but alterations in the methods could give you the uranium you seek.

http://0049606.netsolhost.com/alt/GoingBeyondTheCuries.htm

http://www.nuenergy.org/alt/PerreaultProcess.htm

He is seen by some as a little off in the free energy areas but his chemical methods listed in the links are of use. There is always a grain of salt to be found if you look.

unionised - 6-10-2005 at 06:01

If he really thinks you can separate the uranium isotopes chemically he is too far into the left field for my taste.

IrC - 6-10-2005 at 14:11

Isotopes wasn't the issue, just getting the elements out of the rocks.

akinmad - 7-10-2005 at 12:08

Quote:
Originally posted by IrC
Isotopes wasn't the issue, just getting the elements out of the rocks.


In the second link he claims that upper layer of crystals are enriched in lighter isotopose and lower layer is U-238. I am also doubtful about this statement. :o

If only life were so easy

Dr. Beaker - 7-10-2005 at 16:52

then all the difficult and complex centrifugs would be redundent...
and everyone with U deposite will be able to produce enough U235 to create criticle mass (like Iran and other "friendly" countries...)
this is not serious. and if he is mistaken on something so elementery (double meaning:D) then I would'nt buy from him used flask.

IrC - 7-10-2005 at 18:25

I assumed when I mentioned grain of salt people would see the chemical method he was using and not worry about his whacko science. I have taken radium from dials and hands and found the chemical method works, as well as playing with uranium, thorium and radium ores. I fail to see why everyone is getting caught up in his weird science methods and failing to see the very helpful extraction methods. He likely learned these through studying real science and just can't help adding his own crazy ideas. Surely I am not the only person able to see through the bull and glean some useful information. If the guy is happy thinking he is seperating isotopes so be it. We don't have to pay attention to that and I would never buy anything from him either. I will tell you after exaustive searching online and finding little real information as to how to get the radium from my old hands (several hundred), I never suceeded very well until I got some ideas reading those links. Just ignore the rest of his statements.

Uranium from phosphate

al - 19-10-2005 at 03:05

"I can get access to unlimited ammts. of phosphate ore. I know that it contain Uranium (probably phospate, or silicate) to some (very small) extent.
Any ideas hwo to extract it?
I'm very interested in actinide chem. "

In phosphate rocks concentration of uranium is around 100 ppm. Analysis of a sample of the ore must be done , the easiest method is to attack a sample of mineral, separate uranium via paper chromatography, reagent of uranium is potassium ferrocyanide ( it gives a brown-red color.)
Phosphate rocks have to be heated with 6M HNO3 for 30 minutes, then silicon is volatilized with H2SO4-HF mixture, and the residue is dissolved by a potassium persulfate fusion.

To extract uranium , two ways :
- acid leaching : H2SO4 and oxydizer
- fusion with carbonate

Choice is made after test experiments.

akinmad - 11-1-2006 at 17:44

Quote:
Originally posted by akinmad
Quote:
Originally posted by IrC
Isotopes wasn't the issue, just getting the elements out of the rocks.


In the second link he claims that upper layer of crystals are enriched in lighter isotopose and lower layer is U-238. I am also doubtful about this statement. :o


Sorry bringing up an old thread but when I read a letter from Ernest Glitch (a Victorian scientist and a pal of Faraday) about a Victorian time WMD (a coal dust flame thrower), I found out very exciting story. :o

Mr. Glitch starts mentioning about and describing a victorian time coal dust flame thrower. This is not the thing that puzzles and excites me but he mentions about his assistant's mental derangement.

Mr. Glitch's assistant talks about a weapon of Uranium which may yield several million tons of TNP :o .

He does some experiments with Baryte salt they brough from an Expedition to Africa which the assistant claims it contains a special type of Uranium. :o

And Mr. Glitch takes him as a mad man and literally thrashes him.

If the accounts stated in that letter is true then I must owe an apology to the guy who mentions about isotope separation by means of barium.

Since jargon used in the letter is Victorian jargon, I did not make it fully so I cannot describe it very clearly.
Please read it yourself : http://www.lateralscience.co.uk/wmd/index.html

P.S. Further reading I was also astonished to see that the assistant mentions about Uranium Halides and gaseous diffusion. :o

[Edited on 12-1-2006 by akinmad]

12AX7 - 11-1-2006 at 18:31

Ah yes, wonderful stories, unfortunately fictional though.

akinmad - 12-1-2006 at 04:04

Quote:
Originally posted by 12AX7
Ah yes, wonderful stories, unfortunately fictional though.


Yeah it says science fiction. What a fool I'm. :mad:

[Edited on 12-1-2006 by akinmad]