Separation of americium from highly active raffinates by an innovative variant of the AmSel process based on the ionic liquid Aliquat-336 nitrate

Filip Kolesar; Karen Van Hecke; Peter Zsabka; Koen Binnemans; Thomas Cardinaels

doi:10.1039/D3RA06064K

Separation of americium from highly active raffinates by an innovative variant of the AmSel process based on the ionic liquid Aliquat-336 nitrate

Filip Kolesar, Karen Van Hecke, Peter Zsabka, Koen Binnemans, Thomas Cardinaels

Research output › peer-review

Abstract

A new variant of the AmSel (Americium Selective Separation) system for the separation of Am(III) from a PUREX raffinate was tested in which the aliphatic diluent was replaced by the ionic liquid Aliquat-336 nitrate. For this ionic liquid variant, the kinetics, and the influence of both the HNO3 concentration and the ligand concentration on the stripping were evaluated. In addition, both the original AmSel system, and the ionic liquid variant were demonstrated on a simulated highly active raffinate. The introduction of Aliquat-336 nitrate results in an improved separation between Am(III) and the fission products, in particularly for the light lanthanides and strontium. The Am/Cm separation factors of the ionic liquid variant were found to remain similar to the original AmSel process. Despite the improved separation, slower stripping kinetics were observed and extraction of the SO3-Ph-BTBP complexant to the Aliquat 336 nitrate phase occurred at low HNO3 concentrations during the stripping step. However, adequate mitigation actions to counteract these issues were found and applied.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	36322-36336
Number of pages	15
Journal	RSC Advances
Volume	13
Issue number	51
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1039/D3RA06064K
State	Published - 12 Dec 2023

ASJC Scopus subject areas

General Chemical Engineering
General Chemistry

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10.1039/D3RA06064KLicense: Unspecified

Cite this

@article{f623df8aec67451fafba221e0d689418,

title = "Separation of americium from highly active raffinates by an innovative variant of the AmSel process based on the ionic liquid Aliquat-336 nitrate",

abstract = "A new variant of the AmSel (Americium Selective Separation) system for the separation of Am(III) from a PUREX raffinate was tested in which the aliphatic diluent was replaced by the ionic liquid Aliquat-336 nitrate. For this ionic liquid variant, the kinetics, and the influence of both the HNO3 concentration and the ligand concentration on the stripping were evaluated. In addition, both the original AmSel system, and the ionic liquid variant were demonstrated on a simulated highly active raffinate. The introduction of Aliquat-336 nitrate results in an improved separation between Am(III) and the fission products, in particularly for the light lanthanides and strontium. The Am/Cm separation factors of the ionic liquid variant were found to remain similar to the original AmSel process. Despite the improved separation, slower stripping kinetics were observed and extraction of the SO3-Ph-BTBP complexant to the Aliquat 336 nitrate phase occurred at low HNO3 concentrations during the stripping step. However, adequate mitigation actions to counteract these issues were found and applied.",

keywords = "Separation of americium, Aliquat-336 nitrate, Partitioning, AmSel process, Spectrometry",

author = "Filip Kolesar and {Van Hecke}, Karen and Peter Zsabka and Koen Binnemans and Thomas Cardinaels",

note = "Score=10 Funding Information: The authors would like to thank the Radiochemical Analysis group at SCK CEN for performing the spectrometric analyses. F. K. acknowledges the SCK CEN Academy for providing funding for a PhD fellowship and the FPS Economy for the support via the Energy Transition Fund. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry.",

year = "2023",

month = dec,

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doi = "10.1039/D3RA06064K",

language = "English",

volume = "13",

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journal = "RSC Advances",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Separation of americium from highly active raffinates by an innovative variant of the AmSel process based on the ionic liquid Aliquat-336 nitrate

AU - Kolesar, Filip

AU - Van Hecke, Karen

AU - Zsabka, Peter

AU - Binnemans, Koen

AU - Cardinaels, Thomas

N1 - Score=10 Funding Information: The authors would like to thank the Radiochemical Analysis group at SCK CEN for performing the spectrometric analyses. F. K. acknowledges the SCK CEN Academy for providing funding for a PhD fellowship and the FPS Economy for the support via the Energy Transition Fund. Publisher Copyright: © 2023 The Royal Society of Chemistry.

PY - 2023/12/12

Y1 - 2023/12/12

N2 - A new variant of the AmSel (Americium Selective Separation) system for the separation of Am(III) from a PUREX raffinate was tested in which the aliphatic diluent was replaced by the ionic liquid Aliquat-336 nitrate. For this ionic liquid variant, the kinetics, and the influence of both the HNO3 concentration and the ligand concentration on the stripping were evaluated. In addition, both the original AmSel system, and the ionic liquid variant were demonstrated on a simulated highly active raffinate. The introduction of Aliquat-336 nitrate results in an improved separation between Am(III) and the fission products, in particularly for the light lanthanides and strontium. The Am/Cm separation factors of the ionic liquid variant were found to remain similar to the original AmSel process. Despite the improved separation, slower stripping kinetics were observed and extraction of the SO3-Ph-BTBP complexant to the Aliquat 336 nitrate phase occurred at low HNO3 concentrations during the stripping step. However, adequate mitigation actions to counteract these issues were found and applied.

AB - A new variant of the AmSel (Americium Selective Separation) system for the separation of Am(III) from a PUREX raffinate was tested in which the aliphatic diluent was replaced by the ionic liquid Aliquat-336 nitrate. For this ionic liquid variant, the kinetics, and the influence of both the HNO3 concentration and the ligand concentration on the stripping were evaluated. In addition, both the original AmSel system, and the ionic liquid variant were demonstrated on a simulated highly active raffinate. The introduction of Aliquat-336 nitrate results in an improved separation between Am(III) and the fission products, in particularly for the light lanthanides and strontium. The Am/Cm separation factors of the ionic liquid variant were found to remain similar to the original AmSel process. Despite the improved separation, slower stripping kinetics were observed and extraction of the SO3-Ph-BTBP complexant to the Aliquat 336 nitrate phase occurred at low HNO3 concentrations during the stripping step. However, adequate mitigation actions to counteract these issues were found and applied.

KW - Separation of americium

KW - Aliquat-336 nitrate

KW - Partitioning

KW - AmSel process

KW - Spectrometry

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