Abstract
The present studies deal with the application of the supported liquid membrane (SLM) technique for the separation and purification of plutonium from other impurities in nitric acid medium using anion exchanger Aliquat 336 (a quaternary ammonium salt)/ n-paraffin as a carrier. The effects of feed acidity, stripping agent, and membrane pore size and membrane thickness on the transport behavior of anionic complex of plutonium have been studied in detail. An attempt has been made to establish the mechanism for plutonium transport and model the physicochemical transport of plutonium across SLM. Transport of anionic complex of plutonium increased with increase in carrier concentration upto 10% (w/v), while with further increase in carrier concentration, decrease in transport of plutonium was observed. The PTFE membrane with 0.45 µm pore size and 80 µm thickness was found to be most suitable for the transport of plutonium. The effect of membrane thickness indicates that the transport phenomenon is diffusion controlled. Transport behavior of plutonium, uranium, and other fission products from actual feed solution of ion exchange method obtained in PUREX process was also tested and the result clearly indicates that Aliquat 336 has high selectivity for plutonium and it can be used for the separation and purification of plutonium by the supported liquid membrane technique.
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