APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR SUPPLYING PULSE TO SOLVENT EXTRACTION COLUMN

Abstract

Disclosed are an apparatus and a method for supplying a pulse to solvent extraction column (hereinafter, pulsed column). More particularly, the present invention relates to a low cost apparatus with a simple method for stably supplying a pulse to a pulsed column, which is employed as unit equipment in a solvent extraction process. The apparatus for supplying a pulse to the pulsed column having a first solvent inlet and a second solvent outlet at the low part of the pulsed column, and a second solvent inlet and a first solvent outlet at the top part of the pulsed column thereof, includes: a diaphragm pump actuated by using electric power or compressed air, and having a discharge part and a suction part, in which one of the discharge part and the suction part is blinded while the remaining one thereof is connected to the pulsed column via a pulse supply line.

Claims

1. An apparatus for supplying a pulse to a pulsed column, wherein the pulsed column is provided with a first solvent inlet and a second solvent outlet at the low part of the pulsed column thereof, and a second solvent inlet and a first solvent outlet at the top part of the pulsed column thereof, the apparatus comprising: a diaphragm pump actuated by using electric power or compressed air, and having a discharge part and a suction part, wherein one of the discharge part and the suction part is blinded while a remaining one of the discharge part and the suction part is connected to the pulsed column via a pulse supply line.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the diaphragm pump is installed at a position higher than a height where the pulsed column is placed.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein capacity of the apparatus is determined based on at least one of capacity and a hydraulic head of the diaphragm pump.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the capacity of the diaphragm pump is determined based on a value that is calculated by multiplying a required pulse amplitude by an internal cross-sectional area of the pulsed column.

5. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the hydraulic head of the diaphragm pump is determined depending on a height of the pulsed column and an installation position of the diaphragm pump.

6. A method of supplying a pulse to a pulsed column, the method comprising: determining capacity of an apparatus for supplying a pulse, the apparatus including a diaphragm pump; blinding one of a discharge part and a suction part of the diaphragm pump; installing the diaphragm pump at a position higher than a height where the pulsed column is placed; connecting a remaining one of the discharge part and the suction part with a pulse supply line to which the pulsed column is connected; and actuating the diaphragm pump by using electric power or compressed air.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the capacity of the apparatus is determined based on at least one of capacity and hydraulic head of the diaphragm pump.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] FIG. 1 is a view showing a pulsed column that includes an apparatus for supplying a pulse thereto in the related art.

[0031] FIG. 2 is a view showing a pulsed column that is supplied with a pulse by using compressed air in the related art.

[0032] FIG. 3 is a view showing a pulsed column that includes an apparatus for supplying a pulse thereto according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0033] FIG. 4 is a view showing an apparatus and a method for supplying a pulse to a pulsed column.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0034] Specific structural and functional descriptions of embodiments of the present invention disclosed herein are only for illustrative purposes of the embodiments of the present invention. The present invention may be embodied in many different forms without departing from the spirit and significant characteristics of the present invention. Therefore, the embodiments of the present invention are disclosed only for illustrative purposes and should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

[0035] It will be understood that, although the terms first, second, etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. For instance, a first element discussed below could be termed a second element without departing from the teachings of the present invention. Similarly, the second element could also be termed the first element.

[0036] It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being coupled or connected to another element, it can be directly coupled or connected to the other element or intervening elements may be present therebetween. In contrast, it should be understood that when an element is referred to as being directly coupled or directly connected to another element, there are no intervening elements present. Other expressions that explain the relationship between elements, such as between, directly between, adjacent to, or directly adjacent to, should be construed in the same way.

[0037] Throughout the drawings, the same reference numerals will refer to the same or like parts. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the singular forms a, an, and the are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms comprise, include, have, etc. when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or combinations of them but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or combinations thereof.

[0038] An apparatus for supplying a pulse to a pulsed column according to the present invention, in which the pulsed column is provided with a first solvent inlet and a second solvent outlet at the low part of the pulsed column thereof, and a second solvent inlet and a first solvent outlet at the top part of the pulsed column thereof, may include: a diaphragm pump actuated by using electric power or compressed air, and having a discharge part and a suction part, in which one of the discharge part and the suction part is blinded while the remaining one of the discharge part and the suction part is connected to the pulsed column via a pulse supply line.

[0039] Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to accompanying drawings.

[0040] In this specification, a pulsed column using a pulse, which is employed as unit equipment in a solvent extraction process, will refer to a pulsed column.

[0041] As shown in FIG. 3, the pulsed column 10 is provided with a first solvent outlet 54 and a second solvent inlet 56 in at the top part of the pulsed column thereof, and the first solvent inlet 52 and the second solvent outlet 58 at the low part of the pulsed column thereof. In other words, a first solvent flows from the first solvent inlet 52 to the first solvent outlet 54, and a second solvent different from the first solvent flows from the second solvent inlet 56 to the second solvent outlet 58.

[0042] As shown in FIG. 4, the apparatus for supplying a pulse, which includes the diaphragm pump 20 and a driving part 30, is connected to the pulsed column 10 via the pulse supply line 40. Preferably, the driving part 30 may be actuated by using compressed air or electric power.

[0043] The diaphragm pump 20 is provided with the discharge part 42 and the suction part 44. Here, one of the discharge part 42 and the suction part 44 of the apparatus for supplying a pulse or the diaphragm pump 20 is blinded while the remaining one of the discharge part 42 and the suction part 44 is connected to the pulsed column 10 via the pulse supply line 40, such that fluid of the pulsed column 10 reciprocates therein. For convenience of description, although the specification and the drawing show that the discharge part 42 is blinded, it will be obvious that the suction part 44 may be blinded.

[0044] As shown in FIG. 3, the apparatus for supplying a pulse to the pulsed column or the diaphragm pump 20 according to the present invention is installed at a position higher than a height where the pulsed column 10 is placed. Preferably, the diaphragm pump 20 is installed at a position higher than a height where a packing inside a body of the pulsed column 10 is placed.

[0045] Next, prior to operating the pulsed column 10, the apparatus for supply a pulse can be designed and installed to perform a method of supplying a pulse to the pulsed column 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0046] The method of supplying a pulse to the pulsed column 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention, may include: determining capacity of an apparatus for supplying a pulse, the apparatus including a diaphragm pump 20; blinding one of a discharge part 42 and an suction part 44 of the diaphragm pump 20; installing the diaphragm pump 20 at a position higher than a height where the pulsed column 10 is placed; connecting the remaining one of the discharge part 42 and the suction part 44 with a pulse supply line 40 to which the pulsed column 10 is connected; and actuating the diaphragm pump 20 by using electric power or compressed air.

[0047] Further, the method of supplying a pulse to the pulsed column 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention may include determining capacity of the apparatus having the diaphragm pump 20 for supplying a pulse. Here, the capacity of the apparatus is determined based on capacity and hydraulic head of the diaphragm pump that is actuated by using compressed air or electric power required for operation of the pulsed column 10. Here, the capacity of the diaphragm pump 20 is determined based on a value that is calculated by multiplying the required pulse amplitude by an internal cross-sectional area of the pulsed column 10 considering a design margin. Further, the hydraulic head of the diaphragm pump 20 is designed considering a height of the pulsed column 10 and an installation position of the diaphragm pump 20. Moreover, stable supply of a pulse to the pulsed column 10 may be possible when maintaining soundness by reducing resistance against a diaphragm of the diaphragm pump 20 through the method of determining appropriate capacity of the diaphragm pump 20 and making the installation position of the diaphragm pump 20 higher. Accordingly, stable supply of a pulse to the pulsed column 10 and operation thereof are implemented by selecting the diaphragm pump 20 having proper capacity and hydraulic head suitable for the solvent extraction process, and installing the apparatus for supplying the pulse at a position where resistance against the diaphragm in the diaphragm pump 20 is reduced.

[0048] Next, the method of supplying a pulse to the pulsed column 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention may include blinding one of the discharge part 42 and the suction part 44 of the diaphragm pump 20, and connecting the remaining one of the discharge part 42 and the suction part 44 with the pulse supply line 40 to which the pulsed column 10 is connected.

[0049] Further, the method of supplying a pulse to the pulsed column 10 according to the embodiment of the present invention may include installing the diaphragm pump 20 at a position higher than a height where the pulsed column 10 is placed. Here, in order to reduce resistance against the diaphragm of the apparatus for supplying a pulse, the diaphragm pump 20 is installed at the position higher than the height where the pulsed column 10 is placed or the height where the packing inside the body of the pulsed column 10 is placed. Thus, the diaphragm of the apparatus for supplying a pulse is naturally filled with fluid of the pulsed column 10, thereby preventing malfunction of the apparatus for supplying a pulse due to dry-run of the diaphragm pump 20.

[0050] According to the apparatus and the method for supplying a pulse to the pulsed column 10 of the present invention, the discharge part or the suction part 44 of the diaphragm pump 20 actuated by compressed air and electric power is blinded and is connected to a nozzle of the pulse supply line 40 in the pulsed column 10. Further, resistance against the diaphragm in the apparatus is reduced with a change of the height where the apparatus is installed, thereby stably supplying the pulse to the pulsed column 10. Thus, the apparatus can achieve stable operation by using the pulsed column 10 with a cost of only 10% of the conventional apparatus for supplying a pulse.

[0051] Further, according to a result of an experiment carried out to separate and refine uranium from a nitric acid solution containing uranium and inert materials, an extraction efficiency of about 90.2% is obtained. Moreover, a result that fully satisfies the specification of impurities for uranium dioxide used in nuclear fuel production can be achieved.

[0052] Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions are possible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention as disclosed in the accompanying claims.