DOWEX Resins for Separation of Uranium from Liquid Media

Uranium - U Uranium is 48th in abundance in the earth's crust. It is very dense so it is used for ballistics and specialty applications. For its use in nuclear reactors, uranium must be extremely pure. Uranium is quite reactive, forming a wide range of intermetallic compounds.

Applications

Uranium mining and groundwater remediation are two major commercial applications employing DOWEX™ ion exchange resins. For a comprehensive review of Uranium ion exchange please request a copy of our presentation to The International Atomic Energy Agency in 1998, by Dow's Dr. Charles R. Marston, Ph.D.

For three decades, DOWEX resins have proven to be true mineral processing resins. Born and bred in the uranium mining industry, the family of DOWEX 21K resins and DOWEX RPU resins have the superior physical toughness and chemical performance required for the rigors of commercial hydrometallurgical processing. Today, most of the world's hydrometallurgical uranium mining and groundwater cleanup operations depend upon the proven quality and performance of DOWEX 21K and DOWEX RPU anion exchange resins.

In-Situ Leach (ISL) Mining: DOWEX 21K XLT and DOWEX 21K 16-30 resins are ideal for in-situ leach mining and ground water remediation operations employing fixed bed and continuous countercurrent ion exchange systems.

The two newest (and world's largest) ISL uranium mines were built around DOWEX 21K XLT anion exchange resin, the state-of-the-art mineral processing resin from Dow. DOWEX 21K XLT anion exchange resin is chosen because of its high productivity and low cost to operate. Our customers agree that for fixed bed column contacting applications, DOWEX 21K XLT anion exchange resin is the best performing, longest lasting uranium processing resin available.

Groundwater Remediation: Every "uranium from groundwater" project in North America utilizes the DOWEX 21K resin for removal of trace uranium and trans-uranic elements. The reason is simple, for uranium recovery, no other ion exchange resin product has the proven track record of the family of DOWEX 21K anion exchange resins.

Potable Water: Uranium can be removed from drinking water with DOWEX 1, a high capacity resin that binds uranium very strongly. Typical uranium loading rates are summarized below. DOWEX 1 binds uranium so strongly that the loaded resin is often disposed in order to minimize the volume of waste and cost of disposal. DOWEX 1 meets NSF / ANSI Standard 61 for contact with drinking water. For more information see our regulatory information.

Solution Mining, Resin-In-Pulp (RIP) and Upflow: DOWEX 21K 16-20 and DOWEX RPU resins are larger beads for easy separation from ore pulp. DOWEX RPU resins provide the added bonus of superior silica rejection, which is required in West African uranium solution mines.

DOWEX Ion Exchange Resins

Product	Description	Type	Matrix	Total Exchange Capacity* eq/l (kgr/ft3)	Available Forms
DOWEX 1	High capacity strong base anion exchange resin.	Type I Strong Base Anion	Styrene-DVB, Gel	1.4 (30.6)	Cl-
DOWEX 21K XLT	Uniform particle size, high capacity, strong base anion exchange resin for mineral processing applications.	Type I Strong Base Anion	Styrene-DVB, Gel	1.4	Cl-
DOWEX 21K 16/20	High efficiency, strong base anion exchange resin for mineral processing applications.	Type I Strong Base Anion	Styrene-DVB, Gel	1.2	Cl-
DOWEX 21K 16/30	High efficiency, strong base anion exchange resin for mineral processing applications.	Type I Strong Base Anion	Styrene-DVB, Gel	1.2	Cl-
DOWEX RPU	Physically tough, high capacity strong base anion exchange resin in the Cl- form for uranium recovery in high silica leachates.	Type I Strong Base Anion	Styrene-DVB, Gel	1.4 (30.6)	Cl-