Synthesis of two novel macroporous silica-based impregnated polymeric composites and their application in highly active liquid waste partitioning by extraction chromatography

Two kinds of novel macroporous silica-based chelating polymeric adsorption materials, TODGA/SiO2-P and CMPO/SiO2-P, were synthesized by impregnating and immobilizing two chelating agents, N,N,N',N'-tetraoctyl-3-oxapentane-1,5-diamide (TODGA) and octyl(phenyl)-N,N-diisobutylcarbamoylmethylphoshine oxide (CMPO), into the pores of SiO2-P particles. To separate minor actinides (MA(III)) such as Am(III) and Cm(III), the adsorption and elution of 13 typically simulated fission products from a 3 M HNO3 were performed. It was found that in the first column packed with TODGA/SiO2-P, all of the simulated elements were separated effectively into four groups: (1) Cs(I), Mo(VI), and the most portion of Ru(III) (non-adsorption group), (2) Sr(II), small portion of Gd(III) and all of light REs(III) (MA-lRE-Sr group), (3) most of Gd(III) and all heavy RE(III) (hRE group), and (4) Zr(IV), Pd(II), and a little of Ru(III) (Zr-Pd group) by eluting with 3.0 M HNO3, 1.0M HNO3, distilled water, and 0.5 M H2C2O4, respectively, at 298 K. MA(III) was predicted to flow into the second group along with Nd(III) because of their close adsorption-elution onto TODGA/SiO2-P. In the second column packed with CMPO/SiO2-P, MA-lRE-Sr group was separated into (1) Sr(II), (2) middle RE(III) such as Gd(III), Eu(III), Sm(III), and quite small portion of Nd(III) (MA-mRE), and (3) light RE(III) such as La(III), Ce(III), and most of Nd(III) by eluting with 3.0 M HNO3 and 0.05 M DTPA-pH 2.0, respectively, at 323 K. MA(III) was believed to flow into MA-mRE group along with Gd(III) due to their similar adsorption properties towards CMPO/SiO2-P. Based on positions of MA(III) appeared in light and heavy RE(III), an improved MAREC process for MA(III) partitioning from HLW was proposed.