Effect of acidity and temperature on solubility of TiAP in aqueous phase

In the PUREX process for the extraction of uranium and plutonium from the spent nuclear fuels, owing to the mutual solubility of TBP in nitric acid, the aqueous stream leaving the extraction cycle contains a small amount of TBP, which is potentially hydrolysable to non-volatile species. When the aqueous solutions are concentrated in evaporators, exothermic reactions occur due to the decomposition of TBP-associated compounds.Tri-iso-amyl phosphate (TiAP) being a higher homologue of TBP, will have lower mutual solubility compared to TBP. Although there are reports on the synthesis, purification, characterization of TiAP, effect of temperature and nitric acid concentrations on the solubility of TiAP in aqueous phase have not been studied, which are important parameters in flow sheet design