Radiochemical Procedure for Measurement Specific Activities of Uranium Isotopes in Asphaltite Bioleaching Liquor by Alpha-Particle Spectrometry

Year 2022, Volume: 9 Issue: 2, 79 - 86, 30.06.2022

Meryem Seferinoglu

https://doi.org/10.54287/gujsa.1117169

Abstract

An analytical procedure for the alpha-source preparation is investigated in the study to determine uranium radioisotopes specific activities in the bioleaching liquor leach from asphaltite samples taken from the Silopi region in Türkiye. The purpose is to develop a new radiochemical method that can provide the alpha-particle spectrometry requirements. The proposed analytical procedure includes sample preparation, radiochemical purification of uranium from bioleaching liquor, alpha-source preparation on a substrate and alpha-particle spectrometric analysis of isolated uranium. The method is valid for availability using the z-test, relative bias, and relative uncertainty outlier tests. The results show that the proposed analytical procedure is successfully implemented for measuring the activity concentration of uranium with high accuracy and precision in the bioleaching liquor.

Keywords

Radiochemical Separation, Bioleaching Liquor, Uranium Measurement, Alpha-Particle Spectrometry

Thanks

The author is thankful to Professor Jan Paul and Professor Åke Sandström from the Luleå University of Technology, Department of Chemical and Metallurgical Engineering, Division of Process Metallurgy, Sweden for supplying bioleaching liquor. The author would like to thank Dr. Hüseyin Şahiner for reviewing the paper and providing valuable comments.

References

• Abhilash, & Pandey B. D. (2013). Microbially assisted leaching of uranium-A review. Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy Review, 34(2), 81-113. doi:10.1080/08827508.2011.635731
• Abhilash, Pandey B. D., & Singh, A. K. (2013). Comparative performance of uranium bioleaching from low-grade Indian apatite rock in column and bioreactor. Energy Procedia, 39, 20-32. doi:10.1016/j.egypro.2013.07.188
• Aggarwal, S. K. (2016). Alpha-particle spectrometry for the determination of alpha emitting isotopes in nuclear, environmental and biological samples: Past, Present and Future. Analytical Methods, 8(27), 5353-5371. doi:10.1039/C6AY00920D
• Ballice, L. (2002). Classification of volatile products evolved from temperature-programmed pyrolysis of Soma-Lignite and Şırnak-Asphaltite from Turkey. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 63(2), 267-281. doi:10.1016/S0165-2370(01)00159-0
• Crespo, M. T. (2012). A review of electrodeposition methods for the preparation of alpha-radiation sources. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 70(1), 210-215. doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2011.09.010
• Eichrom (2014a). Uranium in water (Method No: ACW02). Analytical Procedure, Rev.1.4, 1-8, Eichrom Techonogies, LLC. PDF
• Eichrom (2014b). Electrodeposition of actinides (Method No: SPA02). Analytical Procedure, Rev.1.0, 1-6, Eichrom Techonogies, LLC. PDF
• Eisapour, M., Keshtkar, A., Moosavian, M. A., & Rashidi, A. (2013). Bioleaching of uranium in batch stirred tank reactor: process optimization using Box-Behnken design. Annals of Nuclear Energy, 54, 245-250. doi:10.1016/j.anucene.2012.11.006
• Hiçyılmaz, E., & Altun, E. N. (2006). Improvements on combustion properties of asphaltite and correlation of activation energies with combustion results. Fuel Processing Technology, 87(6), 563-570. doi:10.1016/j.fuproc.2005.07.010
• Pal, S., Pradhan, D., Das, T., Sukla, L. B., & Chaudhury, G. R. (2010). Bioleaching of low-grade uranium ore using Acidithiobacillus ferrooxidans. Indian Journal of Microbiology, 50(1), 70-75. doi:10.1007/s12088-010-0015-z
• Reis, A. S., Temba E. S. C., Kastner, G. F., & Monteiro R. P. G. (2011). Combined procedure using radiochemical separation of plutonium, americium and uranium radionuclides for alpha-spectrometry. Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry, 287(2), 567-572. doi:10.1007/s10967-010-0774-3
• Reis, A. S., & Monterio R. P. G. (2020). Study of thorium and uranium isotopes activity concentration after percolation or agitation leaching, in mining lixiviation liquor samples. Brazilian Journal of Radiation Sciences, 80(1), 1-12. doi:10.15392/bjrs.v8i1.933
• Sarkar, A. (2019). Nuclear power and uranium mining: current global perspectives and emerging public health risks. Journal of Public Health Policy, 40, 383-392. doi:10.1057/s41271-019-00177-2
• Saydut, A., Duz, M. Z., Tonbul, Y., Baysal, A., & Hamamci, C. (2008). Separation of liquid fractions obtained from flash pyrolysis of asphaltite. Journal of Analytical and Applied Pyrolysis, 81(1), 95-99. doi:10.1016/j.jaap.2007.09.003
• Seferinoğlu, M., Dirican, A., Erden, P. E., & Erçin, D. (2014). Evaluation of uncertainty components associated with alpha-particle spectrometric measurements of uranium isotopes in water. Applied Radiation and Isotopes, 94, 355-362. doi:10.1016/j.apradiso.2014.09.002
• Zhu, Z., Pranolo, Y., & Cheng, C. Y. (2015). Separation of uranium and thorium from rare earth for rare earth production-A review. Minerals Engineering, 77, 185-196. doi:10.1016/j.mineng.2015.03.012