October 2023 Metallurgy Blog
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October 18, 2023
New Compound Can Extract Uranium From Seawater
New Compound Can Extract Uranium From Seawater
A team of nuclear chemists from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organization (ANSTO) developed a new powdered material that can extract uranium from seawater. Oceans are the biggest uranium reservoir in the world, containing about 4.5 billion tons of dissolved uranium. However, extracting uranium from ocean water is complicated due to the presence of other elements , mainly sodium, calcium, and magnesium. But it is not an impossible task and it has been made easier by the discovery of this new material. The researchers on the project mention that the new extractor material is a layered double hydroxide that contains aluminum hydroxide and magnesium hydroxide. Negatively charged particles called anions exist between the two hydroxide compounds and once the compound mix is in seawater, uranium-containing compound uranyl carbonate displaces the anions and sits in between the compounds. The uranium compound also binds to the surface of the hydroxide layers. The new hydroxide compound showed excellent selectivity, as it only extracted uranium and left all the other salts and elements behind. Surprisingly, as the researchers were testing other elements to add to the mix, they found that doping their substance with neodymium increased its uranium-extracting capabilities. The substance’s powdered form presents an obstacle as it is not Ideal to extract uranium from the ocean. Some sort of industrial machine that incorporates the new substance would need to be employed to extract uranium at scale, nevertheless the results are promising. Learn more here.
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