Kinetics and thermodynamics of carbonate dissolution process of uranium from Abu-Zeniema wet crude uranium concentrates

Various carbonate leaching studies were performed upon Abu-Zeniema uranium slurry concentrates of about 14% uranium and 71% moisture content to optimize the dissolution process and study the kinetics and thermodynamics of the process. Complete dissolution was performed by using 0.75 M of sodium carbonate, 60 min stirring time, at 70 °C and 60/1 solid to aqueous ratio. The carbonate leaching experimental data were well interpreted with shrinking core model with diffusion control through a porous product layer. The order of reaction was found to be pseudo first order with an apparent activation energy of 25.5 kJ/mole.