Fate of soluble uranium in the I{sub 2}/KI leaching process for mercury removal

摘要

General Electric Corporation has developed an extraction and recovery system for mercury, based upon the use of iodine (oxidant) and iodide ion (complexing agent). This system has been proposed for application to select mercury-contaminated mixed waste (i.e., waste containing radionuclides as well as other hazardous constituents), which have been generated by historic activities in support of US Department of Energy (DOE) missions. This system is compared to a system utilizing hypochlorite and chloride ions for removal of mercury and uranium from a sample of authentic mixed waste sludge. Relative to the hypochlorite (bleach) system, the iodine system mobilized more mercury and less uranium from the sludge. An engineering flowsheet has been developed to treat spent iodine-containing extraction medium, allowing the system to be recycled. The fate of soluble uranium in this series of treatment unit operations was monitored by tracing isotopically-enriched uranyl ion into simulated spent extraction medium. Treatment with use of elemental iron is shown to remove > 85% of the traced uranium while concurrently reducing excess iodine to the iodide ion. The next unit operation, adjustment of the solution pH to a value near 12 by the addition of lime slurry to form a metal-laden sludge phase (an operation referred to as lime-softening), removed an additional 57% of soluble uranium activity, for an over-all removal efficiency of {approximately} 96%. However, the precipitated solids did not settle well, and some iodide reagent is held up in the wet filtercake.