Recovery of trace elements with uranium and thorium from yatagan thermal power plant fly ashes by leaching

In this paper, characterization of fly ashes obtained from the Yatagan Thermal Power plant, Mugla, Turkey was performed in order to determine their radioactive element contents, especially uranium and thorium. The representative fly ash samples were subjected to hydrochloric acid (HCl) leaching considering solid concentration, acid dosage, leaching time and temperature in order to reach certain uranium and thorium recoveries. The obtained results showed that the optimum conditions for leaching tests were: 30% solid concentration, 2.36 mmol/dm3 HCl addition, 240 min leaching time and 40 oC temperature. Dissolution efficiencies for uranium and thorium from the Yatagan Thermal Power Plant fly ashes were calculated as 90.12 and 81.18%, respectively.