Example applications, uranium

The preparation and structure determination of ferrocene marked the beginning of metallocene chemistry Metallocenes are organometallic compounds that bear cyclo pentadiemde ligands A large number are known even some m which uranium is the metal Metallocenes are not only stucturally interesting but many of them have useful applications as catalysts for industrial processes Zirconium based metallocenes for example are the most widely used catalysts for Ziegler-Natta polymerization of alkenes We 11 have more to say about them m Section 14 15... 

Another area where controlled-potential coulometry has found application is in nuclear chemistry, in which elements such as uranium and polonium can be determined at trace levels. Eor example, microgram quantities of uranium in a medium of H2SO4 can be determined by reducing U(VI) to U(IV) at a mercury working electrode. 

Nuclear Applications. Powder metallurgy is used in the fabrication of fuel elements as well as control, shielding, moderator, and other components of nuclear-power reactors (63) (see Nuclearreactors). The materials for fuel, moderator, and control parts of a reactor are thermodynamically unstable if heated to melting temperatures. These same materials are stable under P/M process conditions. It is possible, for example, to incorporate uranium or ceramic compounds in a metallic matrix, or to produce parts that are similar in the size and shape desired without effecting drastic changes in either the stmcture or surface conditions. OnlyHttle post-sintering treatment is necessary. 

In the present time our organosilicon adsorbents found the practice application in such as fields such as, for example 1) the method of spectral-chemical determination of gold Clarke quantities in poor ores and rocks has been applied in analytic practice of geological establishments and research institutes 2) at the first time soi ption process was used in hydro-chemical analyze of fresh water. This method has been allowed to analyze of Baikal water 3) for purification metallurgical waters and waste solutions of chemical-metallurgical plants due to toxic elements 4) for creation the filters for extraction of rare elements, for example, uranium 5) for silver utilization from wasted of cinema-photo manufactory. This method has been applied to obtain the silver of high purity. 

Commercial-scale application of solvents coming under the category of neutral reagents is largely found as applied to the nuclear industry materials, as in example, for the separation and refining of uranium, plutonium, thorium, zirconium, and niobium. A process flowsheet for extracting niobium and tantalum from various resources is shown in Figure 5.23. It will... 

Abstract strong commodity prices in the last few years have led to a remarkable renaissance of uranium exploration in Labrador, focused in a complex and geologically diverse region known as the Central Mineral Belt (CMB). Potentially economic epigenetic U deposits are mostly hosted by supracrustal rocks of Paleoproterozoic and Mesoproterozoic age, and are difficult to place in the traditional pantheon of uranium deposit types. Recent exploration work implies that structural controls are important in some examples, but the relationships between mineralization and deformation remain far from clear. Geochronological data imply at least three periods of uranium mineralization between 1900 and 1650 Ma. It seems likely that the Labrador CMB represents a region in which U (and other lithophile elements) were repeatedly and sequentially concentrated by hydrothermal processes. The current exploration boom lends impetus for systematic research studies that may ultimately lead to refined genetic models that may be applicable elsewhere. 

In the radiation oncology (or radiobiology) community, hadron therapy currently includes the application of protons, helium, carbon, neon, and argon ions. Carbon, neon, or argon ions are called heavy ions, while protons and helium ions are called light ions. In contrast, in the physics community, all ions mentioned above are called light ions compared to much heavier ions such as, for example, uranium [43]. 

Numerous applications of stripping analysis to many relevant environmental, clinical, and industrial problems have been reported. Some typical examples include the determination of uranium or titanium in natural waters [34,62], flow... 

The use of solvating extractants in the recovery of gold and platinum-group metals (PGM) was described in the previous section. These extractants have also found some specialized applications in the extractive metallurgy of base metals. For example, they have been used in the recovery of uranium, the separation of zirconium and hafnium, the separation of niobium and tantalum, the removal of iron from solutions of cobalt and nickel chlorides, and in the separation of the rare-earth metals from one another. 

MIBK is a highly effective separating agent for metals from solutions of their salts and is used in the mining industries to extract plutonium from uranium, niobium from tantalum, and zirconium from hafnium (112,113). MIBK is also used in the production of specialty surfactants for inks (qv), paints, and pesticide formulations, examples of which are 2,4,7,9-tetramethyl-5-decyn-4,7-diol and its ethoxylated adduct. Other applications include as a solvent for adhesives and wax/oil separation (114), in leather (qv) finishing, textile coating, and as a denaturant for ethanol formulations. 

Suresh et al. investigated the extraction of uranium and thorium by TsBP and TiBP (isomers of TBP with branched carbon chain) as an alternative choice for TBP (47). Higher homologues of TBP, for example, THP and TEHP, were reported to have higher extraction ability with reduced tendency toward third-phase formation (50, 51). The esters with bulkier substituents in place of the butyl group were proposed to be of practical value for the process applications in uranium and thorium separation (54). The LOC of thorium in equilibrium with aqueous nitric acid-thorium nitrate was reported to decrease in the order THP > TAP > TBP. Pathak et al. showed that TEHP can be a better choice for U/Th separation compared to TBP and TsBP (55). 

Isotope dilution is applicable to any element for which an enriched isotope is available. Figure 1.1 of Chapter 1 indicates which elements are amenable to isotope dilution in most cases the natural element has at least two stable isotopes, but this is not necessarily the case. For example, 232Th, though radioactive (half-life of 1.4 X 1010 years), is present in the earth s crust 230Th (half-life of 7.5 X 104 years), an isotope present in nature at such low levels as to be negligible for most applications, is used as a spike for isotope dilution purposes in the author s laboratory. Another common example is the use of 233U (a synthetic isotope) as a spike for uranium analyses. The only elements not amenable to the technique are those, like cobalt and arsenic, that have only one stable isotope and all of whose radioactive isotopes have half-lives so short as to preclude their use. 

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