| Abstract | A satisfactory empirical mathematical model has been obtained to relate the extraction of uranium from an aqueous solution that pulsates through vertically-spaced horizontal sieve-plates in a short
vertical column to the sieve-plate spacing, pulse frequency, pulse height, flow rate of aqueous solution, plate diameter, and to the position of the inlet for the organic extractant. This was done by multivariable regression analysis of 34
statistically designed tests. The final model is complex but it indicates, in general, that higher extractions are related to the result of the interaction between the pulse frequency and pulse height, to closer platespacing, to lower aqueous flow
rates, to larger-diameter sieve-plates, and to the distance between the inlet for the organic extractant and the axis of the column. It was also shown that assessment of optimum operating conditions for the column by traditional visual observations
was not satisfactory for the tests described herein. |