Study on Mechanism of Oxygen Oxidation Leaching with Low Acid for High Acid Consumption Sandstone Uranium Deposit

Abstract

In view of the problems of high acid consumption, the blockage of ore-bearing beds caused by iron ion precipitation and a low leaching rate in the conventional acid leaching of a sandstone-type uranium deposit, the author put forward “low-acid and oxygen leaching technology” research. In order to further clarify the mechanism of leaching sandstone-type uranium ore with low acid and oxygen, the oxidation mechanism of ferrous ion under acidic conditions, the influencing factors of ferrous ion oxidation process, the kinetic simulation of oxygen oxidizing uranium minerals, and the interaction of uranium and iron precipitation in acidic solution were analyzed and studied, and the mechanism of oxygen oxidizing uranium and uranium leaching under low acid conditions was explored. The results show that under the condition of low acidity, the kinetics that ferrous oxidized by oxygen is between the first-order and second-order reaction, which can reduce the iron ion precipitation and then reduce the influence of iron ion precipitation on uranium leaching, so as to improve the uranium leaching rate. This study confirmed the feasibility of the oxygen oxidation of uranium and uranium leaching under low acidity conditions, which has a good guiding significance for the effective leaching of uranium deposits with a high acid consumption.