Experimental study on extraction chromatography using CMPO adsorbent

In order to study the applicability of extraction chromatographic method to the TRUEX and SETFICS processes for MA separation in the program of Feasibility Study on Commercialized Fast Reactor Cycle Systems, this work investigated some basic characteristics of a novel silica-supported CMPO adsorbent. The leaching behavior of CMPO from the adsorbent by specified eluent solutions, adsorption capacity, dissolution method of CMPO form the support and thermal decomposition performance have been examined experimentally. The experimental results indicate that the leaching of CMPO from the adsorbent is resulted from the solubility of CMPO in an eluent solution. The dissolubility by a dilute nitric acid is relatively high and the concentration of leached CMPO is about 20-50 ppm. It was found that almost the same amount of CMPO is leached out from the adsorbent packed column during the elution operation. However, the leaching problem of CMPO would be cleared by packing an extra amount of the adsorbent to column or by using the eluent solutions saturated by CMPO. The adsorption capacity of the CMPO adsorbent for Nd(III) in 3M HNO3 solution was measured as 0.19-0.22 mmol/g, which is approximately 70-80% of the maximum adsorption amount as M(NO3)3·3 CMPO. The impregnated CMPO can be completely dissolved out from the support by an organic solvent such as acetone. From the thermal analysis results, it was recognized that CMPO in the adsorbent decomposed at 200degC and the SDB-polymer at 290degC, leaving the silica particles. (author)