Recovery of uranium from UCF liquid waste by anion exchange resin CG-400: Breakthrough curves, elution behavior and modeling studies

Continuous fixed-bed column studies were carried out by using Amberlite CG-400 anion exchange resin for the recovery of uranium from aqueous solutions (synthetic solutions and uranium conversion facility (UCF) liquid waste). Effects of operating parameters such as flow rate and bed height were studied. The breakthrough capacity decreases with increasing flow rate, but this dependence was not significant with a long column. The maximum breakthrough capacity of uranium ions were achieved by CG-400 resin at a flow rate of 0.2 mL min−1 and bed height 9.1 cm (4 g resin). The elution behavior of uranium from CG-400 resin by various eluents have been investigated and the results show that 0.5 mol L−1 HNO3 is a good eluent for uranium recovery. The Adams–Bohart, Thomas, Yoon–Nelson and Dose–Response models were applied to the experimental data to determine the characteristic parameters of the column for process design using linear regression. The breakthrough curve calculated from the Dose–Response model was in best agreement with the experimental data.

► Amberlite CG-400 anion exchange resin has been used for the recovery of uranium.
► The breakthrough curves and elution behaviors of CG-400 resin have been studied in detailed.
► The mathematical models have been used to analyze the experimental data.
► The CG-400 resin has been applied successfully for uranium recovery from UCF liquid waste.