Operating Characteristics of the Inclined Pipe Type Extractor on Uranium Extraction

The inclined pipe type extractor, newly proposed, is applicable to liquid-liquid extraction processes of petroleum refining, petro-chemical and other chemical industries, especially to nuclear fuel reprocessing very economically with high efficiency. In this work, in order to evaluate the use of the inclined pipe type extractor on uranium extration, the flooding point, hold up of each phase, and extraction efficiency were studied for the system, water-uranylnitrate-30% T. B. P. kerosene solution. For the experiments, spiral shaped, inclined pipe type extractors of acryl resin were used, the pipe diameters being 21.6 and 35.7 mm. From the results of these investigations, it is shown that the inclined pipe type extractor has special advantages which other extraction equipment heretofore has never had. That is to say, the flow capacity of this type extractor is several times larger than that of a pulse column or another type extractor, and it is possible to adapt the height of this extractor in a comparatively wide range, by adjusting the pipe diameter and other factors.