Treatment of uranium containing carbonaceous materials

Claim 1

A PROCESS FOR THE GENERATION OF A GAS COMPRISING CARBON MONOXIDE AND HYDROGEN AND CONCOMITANTLY RECOVERING URANIUM VALUES FROM LIGNITE CONTAINING NATURALLY OCCURRING URANIUM VALUES WHICH COMPRISES REACTNG SAID LIGNITE BY PARTIAL OXIDATION WITH A FREE OXYGEN CONTAINING GAS AT A TEMPERATURE ABOVE ABOUT 1800*F. IN RELATIVE PROPORTIONS SUCH THAT A PART OF THE CARBON CONTENT OF SAID LIGNITE IS CONVERTED TO CARBON MONOXIDE AND A PART OF SAID LIGNITE IS UNCONVERTED TO GASEOUS PRODUCTS AND IS LIBERATED AS A COMPOSITE SOLID WITH NON-COMBUSTIBLE SOLID CONTAINING URANIUM VALUES, SEPARATING SAID COMPOSITE SOLID FROM THE RESULTING GASEOUS PRODUCTS OF REACTION, CONTACTING SAID COMPOSITE SOLID WITH A FREE OXYGEN CONTAINING GAS IN AN AMOUNT IN EXCESS OF THAT REQUIRED TO COMPLETELY OXIDIZE ALL OF THE CARBON CONTAINED IN SAID COMPOSITE SOLID AT A TEMPERATURE ABOVE 1000*F. THEREBY EFFECTING CONVERSION OF URANIUM VALUES CONTAINED IN SAID COMPOSITE TO A HEXAVALENT FORM, REACTING SAID URANIUM IN HEXAVALENT FORM WITH AN AMMONIUM FLUORIDE FORMING URANYL AMMONIUM PENTAFLUORIDE IN VAPOR FORM, AND SEPARATING VAPOR COMPRISING URANYL AMMONIUM PENTAFLUORIDE FROM A SOLID RESIDUE.