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US 4,381,287 AGranted
Separation of zirconium and uranium
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Interior
InventorsDavid J. MacDonald, Helen G. Henry
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Zirconium- and uranium-containing hydrocarbon-amine solutions are treated for separation of zirconium and uranium by means of a process comprising: (1) selective stripping of zirconium with an aqueous chloride solution, and (2) scrubbing the resulting aqueous solution with chloride-loaded hydrocarbon-amine solution to selectively remove uranium, thereby yielding an aqueous zirconium solution of low uranium content.
Claims5
A process for separation of zirconium and uranium comprising:
- stripping a zirconium- and uranium-containing hydrocarbon-amine organic solution with an aqueous chloride solution, whereby zirconium is selectively extracted from the organic solution, with extraction of only minor amounts of uranium, and
- scrubbing the resulting zirconium- and uranium-containing aqueous solution with a chloride-loaded hydrocarbon-amine organic solution to selectively extract uranium, whereby the uranium content of the solution is further lowered to yield an aqueous zirconium solution substantially free of uranium.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.