Study on the Agglomeration Kinetics of Uranium Peroxide

Abstract

Considering the previous study dealing with thermodynamic and kinetic phenomena (nucleation and crystal growth) during the uranium peroxide precipitation, this work focuses on the agglomeration mechanism. It provides the results obtained from the experiments carried out in a MSMPR reactor operating at steady state. The influence of the operating parameters on the uranium peroxide agglomerates was studied in order to identify the agglomeration kernel. The method is based on the resolution of the population balance equation using the method of moments and the experimental particle size distributions. The results lead to a size-independent kernel directly proportional to the crystal growth rate. Under the stirring conditions studied, the agglomeration appears to be significantly reduced by mixing which results in a kernel inversely proportional to the average shear rate. The agglomeration kinetic law obtained in this study will be used for the process modelling in a further study.