Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Science - Department of Inorganic Chemistry

The work provides a hydrometallurgical study for the extraction of uranium and molybdenum from their quartzite ore material located in Wadi Sikait, South Eastern Desert, Egypt. In this ore material, uranium (506.590 ppm) occurs in the form of coffinite mineral (U(SiO₄)1-X(OH)₄x) while molybdenum (5081.31 ppm) is manifested in the form of molybdenite mineral (MoS2). Two leaching procedures acidic and alkaline have been applied. Using 2.5 M H2SO4 and 0.5 M H₂O₂ in a solid/liquid ratio of 1:14 for only 2 h at 95{u00BA}C the extraction efficiency reach 98.7% for uranium and about 98.44% for molybdenum. While working with 2 M KOH together 0.7 M NaOCl in a solid/liquid ratio 1:10 for 3 h at 95{u00BA}C, the extraction efficiency of uranium and molybdenum become 99% and 99.47% respectively. Several experimental series of both leaching experiments have also been oriented to study the leaching kinetics of the two studied circuits. It was thus revealed that the leaching kinetics of molybdenum is chemically controlled in the two circuits, while the leaching kinetics of uranium is controlled by diffusion through the {u2018}{u2018}product{u2019}{u2019} layer in the two circuits

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