Abstract
The separation of trivalent actinides from trivalent lanthanides present in used nuclear fuel can be achieved by using solvent extraction and the BTBP class of ligands. This separation is relevant for the advanced reprocessing of the used fuel. The choice of diluents in such BTBP based systems has shown to affect the extraction as well as the separation. Long chained alcohols have previously been investigated as such diluents, showing that the americium extraction is higher into alcohols having shorter chains (hexanol, and heptanol) than in longer chained ones (nonanol and decanol). In this work it is shown that not only the distribution ratio, but also the contact time needed before reaching extraction equilibrium is shorter when using shorter chain length of the alcohol diluent. It is also shown that the rate of extraction can be correlated to the interfacial tension between the diluent and the aqueous phase. A low interfacial tension gives a fast extraction while an extraction system with higher interfacial tension needs a longer time of phase contact in order to reach extraction equilibrium.
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