Study of acoustic properties of nuclear extractants and its application

In nuclear industries and different reprocessing centre, for radionuclide production, reprocessing of the nuclear reactor material and extraction of rare earth materials, solvent extraction is a significant technique. Easily available and cost effective liquid like tri butyl phosphate (TBP) (extractant) and toluene (diluent) have been used in this study for extraction cerium from rare earth material like cerium oxide (CeO₂). The application sound theory derived from the propagation of ultrasonic wave in the treatment medium has been applied to investigate the different physico-chemical properties of mixture of extractant and diluent. Different sound wave parameters have been demonstrated using the experimentally calculated value of ultrasonic velocity, density and viscosity. Molecular interactions present inside the binary mixture are the main basis to study the variations of physical and acoustical parameters. After investigating all the parameters in terms of molecular interaction an optimum value for extraction has been established. Cerium has been separated from CeO₂ by phase separation using the biphasic system and maximum extraction efficiency has been examined using Nernst equation. (author)