The Actinide-Lanthanide Separation Concept

Citations Over TimeTop 10% of 2014 papers

Abstract

The Actinide-Lanthanide SEParation (ALSEP) concept is described. This concept is based on using an extractant phase consisting of either N,N,N’,N’-tetraoctyldiglycolamide (TODGA) or N,N,N’,N’-tetra(2-ethylhexyl)diglycolamide (T2EHDGA) combined with 2-ethylhexylphosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl ester (HEH[EHP]) to separate Am and Cm from lanthanide and other fission and activation products in a single solvent extraction cycle. The neutral TODGA or T2EHDGA serves to co-extract the trivalent actinide and lanthanide ions from nitric acid media. The distribution ratios for Am and the lanthanides increase with increasing nitric acid concentration. TODGA extracts these elements more strongly than T2EHDGA from nitric acid, but the weaker extracting ability of T2EHDGA could allow separation of Am from the light lanthanides during the extraction step. Switching the aqueous phase chemistry to a citrate-buffered diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) solution at pH 2.5 to 4 results in selective transfer of the actinides to the aqueous phase, thus resulting in separation of these two groups of elements. Separation factors on the order of 20 to 40 can easily be achieved in the ALSEP systems.

Related Papers

• → Extraction of Nitric Acid, Americium(III), Curium(III), and Lanthanides(III) into DMDOHEMA Dissolved in Kerosene(2020)16 cited
• → Partition of oxidized americium from actinides(III) and lanthanides(III)(1970)38 cited
• → Selective extraction of actinides by polyphosphine polyoxides through supported liquid membrane(1999)10 cited
• → Mutual separation of trivalent americium and curium using the BCPDTPA/XAD-7 composite sorbent with pure nitric acid solution(2021)4 cited
• → Extraction of Trivalent Actinides and Lanthanides from Nitric Acid Solutions by Ion Flotation(1992)2 cited