• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Monday, October 6, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News

New technique could lead to safer, more efficient uranium extraction

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
January 26, 2017
in Science News
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

CORVALLIS, Ore. – The separation of uranium, a key part of the nuclear fuel cycle, could potentially be done more safely and efficiently through a new technique developed by chemistry researchers at Oregon State University.

The technique uses soap-like chemicals known as surfactants to extract uranium from an aqueous solution into a kerosene solution in the form of hollow clusters. Aside from fuel preparation, it may also find value in legacy waste treatment and for the cleanup of environmental contamination.

The research at OSU involves a unique form of uranium discovered in 2005, uranyl peroxide capsules, and how those negatively charged clusters form in alkaline conditions. Results were recently published in the European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry.

"This is a very different direction," said study lead author Harrison Neal, a graduate student in Oregon State's College of Science. "A lot of the work done now is in acid, and we're at the other end of the pH scale in base. It's a very different approach, overall using less harmful, less toxic chemicals."

Throughout the nuclear fuel cycle, many separations are required — in mining, enrichment and fuel fabrication, and then after fuel use, for the recovery of usable spent isotopes and the encapsulation and storage of unusable radioactive components.

"When you use nuclear fuel, the radioactive decay products poison the fuel and make it less effective," said May Nyman, professor of chemistry at Oregon State and corresponding author on the research. "You have to take it, dissolve it, get the good stuff out and make new fuel."

Nyman notes the work represents significant fundamental research in the field of cluster chemistry because it allows for the study of uranyl clusters in the organic phase and can pave the way to improved understanding of ion association.

"With extracting these clusters into the organic phase, the clusters themselves are hollow, so when we get them into the organic solution, they're still containing other atoms, molecules, other ions," Neal added. "We can study how these ions interact with these cages that they're in. The fundamental research is understanding how the ions get inside and what they do once they're inside because they're stuck there."

When the clusters form, each contains 20 to 60 uranium atoms, "so we can extract them in whole bunches instead of one at a time," Nyman said. "It's an atom-efficient approach."

Existing separation techniques require two extraction molecules for every uranium ion, whereas the OSU technique requires less than one extraction molecule per ion.

###

Scientists from the University of Notre Dame collaborated on the research, which was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Media Contact

May Nyman
[email protected]
541-737-1116
@oregonstatenews

http://www.orst.edu

############

Story Source: Materials provided by Scienmag

Share12Tweet7Share2ShareShareShare1

Related Posts

Imaging Techniques and Healing Markers in Fracture Aging

October 6, 2025
cDC3s Impair Anti-TNF-α Therapy in Ulcerative Colitis

cDC3s Impair Anti-TNF-α Therapy in Ulcerative Colitis

October 6, 2025

Revolutionary Memory Network Models Ionic-Electronic Interactions

October 6, 2025

New Survey Reveals Most Americans Recognize Life-Saving Power of Plasma Donation, But Few Have Participated

October 6, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    New Study Reveals the Science Behind Exercise and Weight Loss

    94 shares
    Share 38 Tweet 24
  • New Study Indicates Children’s Risk of Long COVID Could Double Following a Second Infection – The Lancet Infectious Diseases

    92 shares
    Share 37 Tweet 23
  • New Insights Suggest ALS May Be an Autoimmune Disease

    71 shares
    Share 28 Tweet 18
  • Physicists Develop Visible Time Crystal for the First Time

    75 shares
    Share 30 Tweet 19

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Imaging Techniques and Healing Markers in Fracture Aging

cDC3s Impair Anti-TNF-α Therapy in Ulcerative Colitis

Revolutionary Memory Network Models Ionic-Electronic Interactions

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 63 other subscribers
  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.