Investigation of Effect of Main Parameter in Nanofiltration Membrane Process for Uranium Ions Separation from Aqueous Solution

Nanofiltration is a novel membrane technology that can be used in different industries such as nuclear fuel cycle for components separation from solutions. So, the objective of this research is the selection and investigation of the effect of main process parameter on the nanofiltration membrane process for uranium ions separation from the aqueous solution. The significance and effectiveness of pH, pressure, feed flux, feed concentration, and concentration of carbonate as a complexation agent were investigated by the MINITAB software. The results indicated that pH is the main parameter affecting the nanofiltration process. The effect of pH on the process performance was investigated. The results showed that by increasing pH from 3 to 9 leads to an increase in the permeate flux from 42.47 to 80.58 l/(h.m2). Also, the rejection coefficient increased from 10 to 98.58%. The high separation obtained for uranium ions shows that nanofiltration process has a good potential for the uranium separation and recovery from the aqueous solution.