The effects of anion exchange functional-group variations on the sorption of Pu(IV) from nitric acid

A macroporous, polyvinylpyridine anion exchange resin has been used for more than five years at the Los Alamos Plutonium Facility to recover plutonium from nitrate media. This strong-base anion exchanger, Reillex trademark HPQ, offers higher capacity, faster kinetics, and significantly higher resistance to chemical and radiation damage than conventional polystyrene-based resins. In this study, we measured the sorption of Pu(IV) on Reillex trademark HPQ and on three macroporous, strong-base anion exchange resins that differ from Reillex trademark HPQ only in the alkyl group used to quaternize the pyridinium. nitrogen. These four resins, prepared by Reilly Industries, Inc., are copolymers of 1-alkyl-4-vinylpyridine, where the alkyl groups are methyl, butyl, hexyl, and octyl. We compare the trends in Pu(IV) sorption on these four resins to those obtained in our previous study of four polystyrene anion exchange resins having trimethyl, triethyl, tripropyl, and tributyl ammonium functionality. The Pu(IV) sorption was measured from 1 M to 9 M nitric acid in both studies