Leaching and precipitation of thorium ions from cataclastic rocks, Abu Rusheid area, South Eastern desert, Egypt

الملخص EN

The leaching of thorium from representative samples collected from Abu Rusheid area, south Eastern Desert, Egypt using sulphuric acid has been studied.

Factors affecting the leaching of thorium were investigated such as, acid type, S/L ratio, H2SO4 concentration, leaching time, temperature and grain size.

The best conditions for leaching of thorium were, H2SO4 acid as the best acid, S/L ratio of 1:5, 3.0 M H2SO4, 2.0 hour of leaching time, -200 mesh size at 90°C.

After leaching, the mixture was filtrated then divided into two parts the leach liquor and the residue.

The leach liquor was adjusted at pH 1.0 by ammonia solution and addition 10 % oxalic acid.

The precipitate obtained was filtrated and dried at 120oC for 1 hour.

The obtained precipitate showed 91.60 % of thorium content when using 3.0 M H2SO4 acid.

The quality of the precipitate was confirmed by XRF.