Extraction of Strontium and Cesium by Dicarbollides, Crown Ethers and Functionalized Calixarenes

The two main classes of extractantsused for the extraction of cesium and strontium aredicarbollides and crown ethers. Dicarbollides wereused on a large scale for the extraction of these twoelements from high-activity waste. The basicdicarbollides present drawbacks since they need to bediluted in polar solvent such as nitrobenzene and theirefficiency strongly decreases as the acidity of liquidwaste increases. Crown ethers enable cesium andstrontium to be extracted if the concentration ofsodium or the acidity of solutions are not too high.Recently, calixarenes blocked in the 1,3-alternateconformation were used for the selective extractionof cesium, even from high-salt waste matrices.