Filtration studies on a limestone hosted uranium ore leached slurry

Abstract

Solid liquid separation is a very important operation in uranium ore processing. Once leaching has been completed, it is necessary to separate the pregnant liquor from the solid residue and to wash these residues for recovering the remaining dissolved uranium. Filtration or counter current decantation or a combination of the two processes is generally used. The main factors that influence the selection of methods for solid liquid separation are grade of ore, filterability and settling characteristic of the leached pulp. Detailed parametric optimization studies were carried out to elucidate the ideal conditions for filtration of a uranium hosted limestone ore from Karnataka. Present paper discusses the results of studies that encompass screening of flocculant, role of temperature, kinetics of filtration and effect of different flocculant on other filtration parameters.