WPI researcher to explore efficient uranium extraction from industrial wastewater

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency, nuclear power generation could expand to 2.5 times its current capacity by 2050 under its high-growth projections. This anticipated surge has intensified the search for alternative uranium sources, including hazardous wastewater produced during uranium mining and milling. These efforts are dual-purposed: recovering usable uranium and mitigating environmental contamination.

"Being able to extract uranium from uranium-bearing mining wastewater will improve the health of ecosystems while addressing uranium security for the nation's needs," said Xiaowei Teng, the James H. Manning Professor of Chemical Engineering.

Conventional uranium recovery through adsorption is limited in both efficiency and cost-effectiveness. Teng's research will instead focus on electrochemical approaches that explore the interactions between heavy metal ions and electrode materials. His team aims to develop a system that more effectively recovers uranium while generating less toxic waste.

"We want to move away from reliance on trial-and-error methods and instead figure out the key features that help us extract uranium from wastewater more effectively and efficiently," Teng said. "Part of this study will be to develop new materials for electrodes that can be used repeatedly and are designed to recover important elements in an environmentally responsible way."

Teng's project builds on his earlier work involving chloride ions from seawater to design sustainable batteries and methods for isolating urea from wastewater.

The three-year initiative is funded by the DOE's Office of Basic Energy Sciences through its Separation Program. Teng will lead the research as principal investigator, collaborating with Ozgur Capraz, an associate professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, who will serve as subaward principal investigator.