Although a massive industrialization and population growth have further strengthened the destructive effects of climate change such as growing demand for clean water, energy, and raw materials desalination plants have a potential to meet these demands. Since brine contains hazardous chemicals and organic, further minimizing the waste produced from desalination plants is a necessity. This study aims to evaluate the environmental impact of solar uranium recovery systems via two distinct amidoximated adsorbents called AF1 and PAN-AO and compare them with conventional uranium mining methods namely in-situ leaching, open-pit, and underground.. Up to date, the literature has emphasized on developing different uranium adsorbent types without considering the environmental impact of uranium mining from seawater. However, the industrialization of this process requires an assessment before application. This is the first study that examines the environmental impacts of the uranium recovery systems from desalination plants waste. According to the results it was concluded that xtraction of uranium from brine is an applicable process as long as proper adsorbents are produced industrially, adsorbent technologies have less environmental load than conventional uranium mining methods in human toxicity non-cancer effect, ionizing radiation human health, and freshwater ecotoxicity impact categories, AF1 adsorbent scenario leads to less environmental pollution than PAN-AO adsorbent case in most impact categories, hydroxylamine and hazardous waste disposal are the most sensitive parameters for both adsorbent scenarios and the environmental impact of solar scenarios in both adsorbent cases is less than the other energy alternatives in most impact categories.

Sustainable uranium mining and its evaluation from brine

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