INVESTIGATION OF ACTIVATED CARBON ADSORBENT ELECTRODE FOR ELECTROSORPTION-BASED URANIUM EXTRACTION FROM SEAWATER

AZNAN FAZLI ISMAIL,임만성 한국원자력학회 2015 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.47 No.5

To support the use of nuclear power as a sustainable electric energy generating technology,long-term supply of uranium is very important. The objective of this research is toinvestigate the use of new adsorbent material for cost effective uranium extraction fromseawater. An activated carbon-based adsorbent material is developed and tested throughan electrosorption technique in this research. Adsorption of uranium from seawater byactivated carbon electrodes was investigated through electrosorption experiments up to300 minutes by changing positive potentials from þ0.2V to þ0.8V (vs. Ag/AgCl). Uraniumadsorption by the activated carbon electrode developed in this research reached up to 3.4 g-U/kg-adsorbent material, which is comparable with the performance of amidoxime-basedadsorbent materials. Electrosorption of uranium ions from seawater was found to be mostfavorable at þ0.4V (vs. Ag/AgCl). The cost of chemicals and materials in the presentresearch was compared with that of the amidoxime-based approach as part of the engineeringfeasibility examination.

Determination of Indoor Doses and Excess Lifetime Cancer Risks Caused by Building Materials Containing Natural Radionuclides in Malaysia

Shittu Abdullahi,Aznan Fazli Ismail,Supian Samat 한국원자력학회 2019 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.51 No.1

The activity concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th, and 40K from 102 building materials samples were determinedusing a high-purity germanium (HPGe) detector. The activity concentrations were evaluated forpossible radiological hazards to the human health. The excess lifetime cancer risks (ELCR) were alsoestimated, and the average values were recorded as 0.42 ± 0.24 10 3, 3.22 ± 1.83 10 3, and3.65 ± 1.85 10 3 for outdoor, indoor, and total ELCR respectively. The activity concentrations werefurther subjected to RESRAD-BUILD computer code to evaluate the long-term radiation exposure to adweller. The indoor doses were assessed from zero up to 70 years. The simulation results were 92 ± 59,689 ± 566, and 782 ± 569 mSv y 1 for indoor external, internal, and total effective dose equivalent (TEDE)respectively. The results reported were all below the recommended maximum values. Therefore, theradiological hazards attributed to building materials under study are negligible.

Assessment of natural radionuclides and heavy metals contamination to the environment: Case study of Malaysian unregulated tin-tailing processing industry

Muhammad Abdullah Rahmat,Aznan Fazli Ismail,Nursyamimi Diyana Rodzi,Eli Syafiqah Aziman,Wan Mohd Razi Idris,Tukimat Lihan 한국원자력학회 2022 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.54 No.6

The tin tailing processing industry in Malaysia has operated with minimal regard and awareness formaterial management and working environment safety, impacting the environment and workers inaspects of radiation and heavy metal exposure. RIA was conducted where environmental samples wereanalyzed, revealing concentrations of 226Ra, 232Th and 40K between the range of 0.1e10.0, 0.0e25.7, and0.1e5.8 Bq/g respectively, resulting in the AED exceeding UNCEAR recommended value and regulationlimit enforced by AELB (1 mSv/y). Raeq calculated indicates that samples collected pose a significantthreat to human health from gamma-ray exposure. Assessment of heavy metal content via pollutionindices of soil and sediment showed significant contamination and enrichment from processing activitiesconducted. As and Fe were two of the highest metals exposed both via soil ingestion with an average of4.6 103 mg/kg-day and 1.4 104 mg/kg-day, and dermal contact with an average of 5.6 104 mg/kg-day and 6.0 104. mg/kg-day respectively. Exposure via accidental ingestion of soil and sedimentcould potentially cause adverse non-carcinogenic and carcinogenic health effect towards workers in theindustry. Correlation analysis indicates the presence of a relationship between the concentration ofNORM and trace elements

Investigation of thorium separation from rare-earth extraction residue via electrosorption with carbon based electrode toward reducing waste volume

Aziman, Eli Syafiqah,Ismail, Aznan Fazli,Muttalib, Nabilla Abdul,Hanifah, Muhammad Syafiq Korean Nuclear Society 2021 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.53 No.9

Rare-earth (RE) industries generate a massive amount of radioactive residue containing high thorium concentrations. Due to the fact that thorium is considered a non-economic element, large volume of these RE processed residues are commonly disposed of without treatment. It is essential to study an appropriate treatment that could reduce the volume of waste for final disposition. To this end, this research investigates the applicability of carbon-based adsorbent in separating thorium from aqueous phase sulphate is obtained from the cracking and leaching process of solid rare-earth by-product residue. Adsorption of thorium from the aqueous phase sulphate by carbon-based electrodes was investigated through electrosorption experiments conducted at a duration of 180 minutes with a positive potential variable range of +0.2V to +0.6V (vs. Ag/AgCl). Through this research, the specific capacity obtained was equivalent to 1.0 to 5.14 mg-Th/g-Carbon. Furthermore, electrosorption of thorium ions from aqueous phase sulphate is found to be most favorable at a higher positive potential of +0.6V (vs. Ag/AgCl). This study's findings elucidate the removal of thorium from the rare-earth residue by carbon-based electrodes and simultaneously its potential to reduce disposal waste of untreated residue.

Economic evaluation of thorium oxide production from monazite using alkaline fusion method

Udayakumar, Sanjith,Baharun, Norlia,Rezan, Sheikh Abdul,Ismail, Aznan Fazli,Takip, Khaironie Mohamed Korean Nuclear Society 2021 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.53 No.7

Monazite is a phosphate mineral that contains thorium (Th) and rare earth elements. The Th concentration in monazite can be as high as 500 ppm, and it has the potential to be used as fuel in the nuclear power system. Therefore, this study aimed to conduct the techno-economic analysis (TEA) of Th extraction in the form of thorium oxide (ThO₂) from monazite. Th can be extracted from monazite through an alkaline fusion method. The TEA of ThO₂ production studied parameters, including raw materials, equipment costs, total plant direct and indirect costs, and direct fixed capital cost. These parameters were calculated for the production of 0.5, 1, and 10 ton ThO₂ per batch. The TEA study revealed that the highest production cost was ascribed to installed equipment. Furthermore, the highest return on investment (ROI) of 21.92% was achieved for extraction of 1 ton/batch of ThO₂, with a payback time of 4.56 years. With further increase in ThO₂ production to 10 ton/batch, the ROI was decreased to 5.37%. This is mainly due to a significant increase in the total capital investment with increasing ThO₂ production scale. The minimum unit production cost was achieved for 1 ton ThO₂/batch equal to 335.79 $/Kg ThO₂.

Economic Analysis of Thorium Extraction from Monazite

Ahmad Hayaton Jamely Mohd Salehuddin,Aznan Fazli Ismail,Che Nor Aniza Che Zainul Bahri,Eli Syafiqah Aziman 한국원자력학회 2019 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.51 No.2

Thorium (232Th) is four times more abundant than uranium in nature and has become a new importantsource of energy in the future. This is due to the ability of thorium to undergo the bombardment ofneutron to produce uranium-233 (233U). The aim of this study is to investigate the production cost ofthorium oxide (ThO2) resulted from the thorium extraction process. Four main parameters were studiedwhich include raw material and chemical cost, total capital investment, direct cost and indirect cost. These parameters were justified to obtain the final production cost for the thorium extraction process. The result showed that the raw material costs were $63,126.00 e$104,120.77 (0.5 ton), $126,252.00 e$178,241.53 (1.0 ton), and $1,262,520.00 e$1,782,415.33 (10.0 tons). The total installed equipment andtotal cost investment were estimated to be approximately $11,542,984.10 and $13,274,431.715 respectively. Hence, the total costs for producing 1 kg ThO2were $6829.79e $6911.78, $3540.95 e $3592.94,and $501.18 e $553.17 for 0.5, 1.0, and 10.0 tons respectively. The result concluded that with higher massproduction, the cost of 1 kg ThO2 would be reduced which in this scenario, the lowest production costwas $501.18 kg 1e $553.17 kg 1 for 10.0 tons of ThO2 production.

Synthesis Of Thorium Tetrafluoride (ThF4) By Ammonium Hydrogen Difluoride (NH4HF2)

Che Nor Aniza Che Zainul Bahri,Aznan Fazli Ismail,Amran Ab. Majid 한국원자력학회 2019 Nuclear Engineering and Technology Vol.51 No.3

The present study aims to investigate the fluorination of thorium oxide (ThO2) by ammonium hydrogendifluoride (NH4HF2). Fluorination was performed at room temperature by mixing ThO2 and NH4HF2 atdifferent molar ratios, which was then left to react for 20 days. Next, the mixtures were analyzed using Xraydiffraction (XRD) at the intervals of 5, 10, 15, and 20 days, followed by the heating of the mixtures at450e750 C with argon gas flow. The characterization of ThF4 was established using X-ray diffraction(XRD) and scanning electron microscopyedispersion X-ray spectroscopy (SEMeEDX). In this study,ammonium thorium fluoride was synthesized through the fluorination of ThO2 at room temperature. Theoptimum molar ratio in synthesizing ammonium thorium fluoride was 1.0:5.5 (ThO2:NH4HF2) with 5days reaction time. In addition, the heating of ammonium thorium fluoride at 450 C was sufficient toproduce ThF4. Overall, this study proved that NH4HF2 is one of the fluorination agents that is capable ofsynthesizing ThF4

Nuclear Structure of <SUP>14</SUP>Be Nucleus

Waleed S. Hwash,Redzuwan Yahaya,Shahidan Radiman,Aznan Fazli Ismail 한국물리학회 2012 THE JOURNAL OF THE KOREAN PHYSICAL SOCIETY Vol.61 No.1

We investigated in this work the two-neutron halo nuclei of <SUP>14</SUP>Be. The cluster model was used in the present work to study the properties of a three-body system. The three-body system described depended on the Jacobi coordinates using two configurations: the T-configuration and the Yconfiguration. In this work, the binding energy, the root-mean-square (r.m.s.) radius and effect of deformation of the core (<SUP>12</SUP>Be) on the properties of two-neutron halo were studied. The calculations confirmed that the core had a prolate-shaped deformation, which affected the structure of the three-body system.