Immobilization of uranium tailings by phosphoric acid-based geopolymer with optimization of machine learning

To decrease the contaminant leaching and radon exhalation from uranium tailings, a phosphoric acid-based geopolymer (PAG) precursor was selected as a solidifying agent to bind coarse sands to achieve compact structures. Machine learning was applied to explore the optimal ratio of geopolymer preparation, aimed at achieving a higher compressive strength of solidified bodies. Results showed that the maximum compressive strength of 18.964 MPa appeared at the mass ratio of 2.8 for phosphoric acid/kaolin. The uranium leaching rate of 0.70 × 10 −6  cm/d on the 42nd day was three orders of magnitude less than the clay mixture-based geopolymer solidified bodies. The successful synthesis of geopolymer was evidenced by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), the homogeneous and dense structure of solidified bodies was characterized by the scanning electron microscopy (SEM).