Process and apparatus for producing uranium or a rare earth element

Process for producing uranium (U) and/or at least one rare earth element selected from the group consisting of cerium (Ce), dysprosium (Dy), erbium (Er), europium (Eu), gadolinium (Gd), holmium (Ho), lanthanum (La), lutetium (Lu), neodymium (Nd), praseodymium (Pr), promethium (Pm), samarium (Sm), scandium (Sc), terbium (Tb), thulium (Tm), ytterbium (Yb) and yttrium (Y) out of an ore, the process comprising:

• mixing the ore with sulphuric acid having a concentration of at least 95 wt.-% to form a mixture,
• granulating the mixture into pellets, and
• feeding the pellets sequentially into a first fluidized bed, a second fluidized bed, and a third fluidized bed, in the stated order,
• wherein the first, second, and third fluidized beds are connected in series and each is fluidized by a separate fluidizing gas,
• wherein each of the first, second and third fluidized beds at least partly surrounds a gas supply tube for feeding a gas or a gas mixture,
• wherein the gas or gas mixture is used as a heat transfer medium in the first, second and third fluidized bed,
• wherein off-gas of a low temperature heating in the second fluidized bed performed at temperatures between 200 and 350° C. is used as the gas or the gas mixture in the first fluidized bed for a preheating performed at temperatures between 150 and 250° C., and off-gas of a high temperature heating in the third fluidized bed performed at temperatures between 500 and 800° C. is used as the gas or the gas mixture in the second fluidized bed for the low temperature heating,
• wherein the pellets have an average diameter between 100 and 500 μm and/or 10 wt.-% of the pellets have a diameter of more than 1 mm, and
• wherein the residence time in the preheating is between 1 s and 5 minutes, the residence time in the low temperature heating is between 5 and 20 minutes, and the residence time in the high temperature heating is between 5 and 20 minutes.