Study on the clogging of suspended particles with different particle sizes in porous media in in situ leaching of uranium

The clogging problem caused by the migration of suspended particles in in situ leaching of uranium has become an important factor restricting production efficiency. However, research on the laws and mechanisms related to physical clogging in this field has not yet been reported. This study established a simulation experimental system for the migration and clogging of suspended particles in porous media, and studied the clogging laws of suspended particles with different particle sizes and the ratio of pore diameter to suspended particle size o/d in porous media. The results show that under the conditions of a suspended particles concentration of 200 mg/L and a suspension flow velocity of 9 mL/min, when o/d ≥ 11.4, only a small amount of internal deposition of suspended particles occurs in porous media; When 2.8 < o/d < 11.4, the suspended particles in the porous medium are mainly characterized by internal deposition and internal pore clogging; When o/d ≤ 2.8, surface clogging will occur in the porous medium, and in severe cases, "mud cake" phenomenon will occur. The dimensionless parameter Reynolds number is introduced to identify the critical state of clogging by correlating the ratio of pore diameter to suspended particle size suspension velocity and suspended particle concentration through an exponential law model. The research results have laid the foundation for further research on alleviating the clogging problem caused by suspended particles in the in situ leaching process of uranium.