Automated separation of Am from Sm by two-stage polymer-based HDEHP extraction chromatography

Abstract

Separation of Am from Sm is very important for gamma spectrometric analysis of 242gAm in some specific samples, and also represents a very difficult challenge due to their similar chemical properties. Here we report a novel automated separation procedure based on two-stage HDEHP extraction chromatography to achieve the fast and highly efficient separation of Am from Sm. The two-stage HDEHP extraction chromatography was established by using HDEHP resin as the stationary phase, and DTPA-lactic acid and HNO3 as the mobile phases respectively. The automated separation method can be realized through process automation design. As a result, the recovery of Am is above 90%, and the decontamination factor (DF) for Sm reaches 2 × 107. The separation speed is improved and the radiation damage of radionuclides to the analysts is greatly reduced. So, this automated separation procedure developed in this work is certified to be convenient and efficient for the analysis of low activity 242gAm in the complex samples.