Double liquid membrane system for the removal of actinides and lanthanides from acidic nuclear wastes

Conference · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1985

OSTI ID:5263452

Chiarizia, R; Danesi, P R

Supported liquid membranes (SLM), consisting of an organic solution of n-octyl-(phenyl)-N,N-diisobutylcarbamoylmethylphosphine oxide (CMPO) and tributyl-phosphate (TBP) in decalin are able to perform selective separation and concentration of actinide and lanthanide ions from aqueous nitrate feed solutions and synthetic nuclear wastes. In the membrane process a possible strip solution is a mixture of formic acid and hydroxylammonium formate (HAF). The effectiveness of this strip solution is reduced and eventually nullified by the simultaneous transfer through the SLM of nitric acid which accumulates in the strip solution. A possible way to overcome this drawback is to make use of a second SLM consisting of a primary amine which is able to extract only HNO/sub 3/ from the strip solution. In this work the results obtained by experimentally studying the membrane system: synthetic nuclear waste/CMPO-TBP membrane/HCOOH-HAF strip solution/primary amine membrane/NaOH solution, are reported. They show that the use of a second liquid membrane is effective in controlling the HNO/sub 3/ concentration in the strip solution, thus allowing the actinide and lanthanide ions removal from the feed solution to proceed to completion. 15 refs., 10 figs., 1 tab.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Lab., IL (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-31109-ENG-38
• OSTI ID: 5263452
• Report Number(s): CONF-851011-2; ON: DE85018443
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

052001 -- Nuclear Fuels-- Waste Processing
12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
400105* -- Separation Procedures
ACTINIDES
ALKANES
BUTYL PHOSPHATES
CARBOXYLIC ACID SALTS
CARBOXYLIC ACIDS
CYCLOALKANES
DATA
DECALIN
ELEMENTS
ESTERS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
FORMATES
FORMIC ACID
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
INORGANIC ACIDS
MATERIALS
MEMBRANES
METALS
MONOCARBOXYLIC ACIDS
NITRIC ACID
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC ACIDS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC PHOSPHORUS COMPOUNDS
PHOSPHORIC ACID ESTERS
RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS
RADIOACTIVE WASTES
RARE EARTHS
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SUPPORTED LIQUID MEMBRANES
TBP
WASTES