Kinetic modeling of uranium permeation across a supported liquid membrane employing dinonyl phenyl phosphoric acid (DNPPA) as the carrier

This paper reports the permeation of U(VI) from nitric acid medium across polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) membrane impregnated with dinonyl phenyl phosphoric acid (DNPPA) as carrier. The effects of various parameters such as nature and concentration of receiver phases, feed acidity, carrier/uranium concentration and membrane thickness were evaluated. 6 M H2SO4 was identified as receiver phase. Experimental data were fitted to a kinetic model to calculate the diffusion coefficient D(o) and mass transfer coefficients Δ(a)−1. The optimized conditions were applied for recovery of uranium from uranyl nitrate raffinate (UNR) waste solution generated during the purification of uranium through U(VI)–HNO3–TBP route.