INVESTIGATION INTO THE RATE OF TRIOCTYLAMINE PARTITIONING INTO THE MCU AQUEOUS PHASES
The Savannah River National Laboratory (SRNL) has examined the issue of trioctylamine (TOA) losses at the Modular Caustic-Side Solvent Extraction Unit (MCU) solvent. For this study, SRNL used partitioning and radiolysis data from the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) as well as actual MCU operational data. From the radiolysis data, SRNL prepared a model on the rate of TOA degradation. From the combined sets of data, SRNL has calculated the largest possible value of TOA (although this value is not credible) in the Strip Effluent (SE) and also calculated two different conservative, more realistic values for TOA in the SE. Even under conservative assumptions, such as all of the TOA losses partitioning solely into the Strip Effluent (SE), the MCU operational data suggests that the maximum realistic TOA concentration in the SE is < 0.6 mg/L. Furthermore, from understanding the chemical differences between the old and new strip solutions, SRNL does not believe that the TOA will deplete from the blended BOBCalixC6 – Next Generation Solvent (NGS-MCU) at a rate higher than previously experienced. Finally, SRNL recommends pursuing analytical development of a method for TOA with a superior precision compared to the current method. However, as the TOA in the blended solvent will continuously decline during MCU operations, further improvements in the development of the understanding of TOA losses may not be cost effective.
- Research Organization:
- Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC09-08SR22470
- OSTI ID:
- 1089290
- Report Number(s):
- SRNL-STI-2013-00195
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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