TS-BTPhen as a promising hydrophilic complexing agent for selective Am(III) separation by solvent extraction

• Authors: Peter Kaufholz , Fabian Sadowski , Andreas Wilden , Giuseppe Modolo , Frank W. Lewis , Andrew W. Smith , Laurence M. Harwood
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

The novel hydrophilic back-extraction agent TS-BTPhen (3,3ʹ,3ʺ,3ʹʺ-[3-(1,10-phenanthroline-2,9-diyl)-1,2,4-triazine-5,5,6,6-tetrayl]tetrabenzenesulfonic acid) was tested for its selectivity towards Am(III) over Cm(III) and Eu(III) with a TODGA (N,N,Nʹ,Nʹ-tetraoctyldiglycolamide) based solvent. Batch experiments were carried out using TS-BTPhen dissolved in aqueous nitric acid solution with tracers of 152Eu, 241Am and 244Cm. A significant increase of the separation factor for Cm over Am from SFCm/Am = 1.6 up to SFCm/Am = 3.3 was observed compared to the use of a TODGA-nitric acid system alone. Furthermore, stripping was possible at high nitric acid concentrations (0.6-0.7 mol/L) resulting in a low sensitivity to acidity changes. The influence of the TS-BTPhen concentration was analyzed. A slope of -2 was expected taking into account literature stoichiometries of the lipophilic analogue CyMe4BTPhen. However, a slope of -1 was found. Batch stripping kinetics showed fast kinetics for the trivalent actinides. As an alternative organic ligand the methylated TODGA derivate Me-TODGA (2-methyl-N,N,Nʹ,Nʹ-tetraoctyldiglycolamide) was tested in combination with the hydrophilic TS-BTPhen. The Am(III) separation was achieved at even higher nitric acid concentrations compared to TODGA.

Keywords

EN

Am-Cm separation; TODGA; TS-BTPhen; liquid-liquid extraction

• Publisher: De Gruyter Open
• Journal: Nukleonika
• Year: 2015
• Volume: 60
• Issue: 4
• Pages: 815-820

Dates

published

1 - 12 - 2015

received

19 - 6 - 2015

accepted

21 - 8 - 2015

online

30 - 12 - 2015

Contributors

author

Peter Kaufholz

• Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung, Nukleare Entsorgung und Reaktorsicherheit (IEK-6),

author

Fabian Sadowski

• Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung, Nukleare Entsorgung und Reaktorsicherheit (IEK-6),

author

Andreas Wilden

• Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung, Nukleare Entsorgung und Reaktorsicherheit (IEK-6),

author

Giuseppe Modolo

• Institut für Energie- und Klimaforschung, Nukleare Entsorgung und Reaktorsicherheit (IEK-6),

author

Frank W. Lewis

• Department of Applied Sciences, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne NE1 8ST, United Kingdom

author

Andrew W. Smith

• Department of Chemistry, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AD, United Kingdom

author

Laurence M. Harwood

• Department of Chemistry, University of Reading, Whiteknights, Reading RG6 6AD, United Kingdom

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1515/nuka-2015-0120