Investigation of activated carbon adsorbent electrode for electrosorption-based uranium extraction from seawater

Abstract

To support the use of nuclear power as a sustainable electric energy generating technology, long-term supply of uranium is very important. The objective of this research is to investigate the use of new adsorbent material for cost effective uranium extraction from seawater. An activated carbon-based adsorbent material is developed and tested through an electrosorption technique in this research. Adsorption of uranium from seawater by activated carbon electrodes was investigated through electrosorption experiments up to 300 minutes by changing positive potentials from +0.2V to +0.8V (vs. Ag/AgCl). Uranium adsorption by the activated carbon electrode developed in this research reached up to 3.4 g-U/kg-adsorbent material, which is comparable with the performance of amidoxime-based adsorbent materials. Electrosorption of uranium ions from seawater was found to be most favorable at +0.4V (vs. Ag/AgCl). The cost of chemicals and materials in the present research was compared with that of the amidoxime-based approach as part of the engineering feasibility examination.

Keywords

• Activated carbon electrode
• Adsorbent cost
• Electrosorption
• Seawater
• Uranium extraction