Utilization of different crown ethers impregnated polymeric resin for treatment of low level liquid radioactive waste by column chromatography

Abstract

The main goal of this study was to find a novel impregnated resin as an alternative for the conventional resin (KY-2 and AN-31) used for low and intermediate level liquid radioactive waste treatment. Novel impregnated ion exchangers namely, poly (acrylamide-acrylic acid-acrylonitril)-N,N’-methylenedi-acrylamide-4,4’(5′)di-t-butylbenzo 18 crown 6 [P(AM-AA-AN)-DAM/DtBB18C6], poly (acrylamide-acrylic acid-acrylonitril)-N,N’-methylenediacrylamide-dibenzo 18 crown 6 [P(AM-AA-AN)-DAM/DB18C6], and poly (acrylamide-acrylic acid-acrylonitril)-N,N’-methylenediacrylamide-18 crown 6 [P(AM-AA-AN)-DAM/18C6] were prepared and their removal efficiency of some radionuclides was investigated. Preliminary batch experiments were performed in order to study the influence of the different derivatives of 18 crown 6 on the characteristic removal performance. Separation of 134Cs, 60Co, 65Zn and (152+154)Eu radionuclides from low level liquid radioactive waste was investigated by using column chromatography with P(AM-AA-AN)-DAM/DtBB18C6 and metal salt solutions traced with the corresponding radionuclides. Breakthrough data was obtained in a fixed bed column at room temperature (298 K) using different bed heights and flow rates. The breakthrough capacities were found to be 94.7, 83.3, 58.7, 43.1 (mg/g) for 60Co, 65Zn, 134Cs, and (152+154)Eu, respectively. Pre-concentration and separation of all radionuclides under study have been carried out using different concentration of nitric and/or oxalic acids.