Uranium extraction from seawater: material design, emerging technologies and marine engineering

Yi Xie; Zeyu Liu; Yiyun Geng; Hao Li; Ning Wang; Yanpei Song; Xiaolin Wang; Jing Chen; Jianchen Wang; Shengqian Ma; Gang Ye

doi:10.1039/D2CS00595F

Uranium extraction from seawater: material design, emerging technologies and marine engineering

Yi Xie,^a Zeyu Liu,^b Yiyun Geng,^a Hao Li,^ac Ning Wang,^d Yanpei Song,

^e Xiaolin Wang,*^c Jing Chen,^a Jianchen Wang,

^a Shengqian Ma

*^e and Gang Ye

*^a

Author affiliations

* Corresponding authors

^a Collaborative Innovation Center of Advanced Nuclear Energy Technology, Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China
E-mail: yegang@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn

^b AVIC Manufacturing Technology Institute, Beijing 100024, China

^c China Academy of Engineering Physics, Mianyang 621900, China

^d State Key Laboratory of Marine Resource Utilization in South China Sea, Hainan University, Haikou 570228, China

^e Department of Chemistry, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, USA

Abstract

Uranium extraction from seawater (UES), a potential approach to securing the long-term uranium supply and sustainability of nuclear energy, has experienced significant progress in the past decade. Promising adsorbents with record-high capacities have been developed by diverse innovative synthetic strategies, and scale-up marine field tests have been put forward by several countries. However, significant challenges remain in terms of the adsorbents’ properties in complex marine environments, deployment methods, and the economic viability of current UES systems. This review presents an up-to-date overview of the latest advancements in the UES field, highlighting new insights into the mechanistic basis of UES and the methodologies towards the function-oriented development of uranium adsorbents with high adsorption capacity, selectivity, biofouling resistance, and durability. A distinctive emphasis is placed on emerging electrochemical and photochemical strategies that have been employed to develop efficient UES systems. The most recent achievements in marine tests by the major countries are summarized. Challenges and perspectives related to the fundamental, technical, and engineering aspects of UES are discussed. This review is envisaged to inspire innovative ideas and bring technical solutions towards the development of technically and economically viable UES systems.

This article is part of the themed collection: ChemSocRev – Highlights from 2023

Chemical Society Reviews

Uranium extraction from seawater: material design, emerging technologies and marine engineering

Abstract

Article information

Download Citation

Permissions

Uranium extraction from seawater: material design, emerging technologies and marine engineering

Social activity

Search articles by author

Spotlight

Advertisements