PC-88A – impregnated polymeric beads: Preparation, characterization and application for extraction of Pu(IV) from nitric acid medium

Abstract

Abstract The extractant-impregnated polymeric beads (EIPBs), containing polyethersulfone as base polymer and 2-ethylhexyl phosphonic acid mono-2-ethylhexyl ester (PC-88A) as an extractant, were prepared by phase inversion method. These EIPBs were characterized by FTIR, TGA and SEM techniques. The beads were found to have excellent acid stability, since these did not exhibit any structural deformation or loss of the extractant into aqueous nitric acid solution (6 M), for a period of 15 d. The feasibility of Pu(IV) extraction, using these beads, from nitric acid solution was tested by batch equilibration method. Parametric dependence of Pu(IV) extraction on experimental variables, like strength of nitric acid, equilibration time, Pu(IV) concentration, etc., was investigated. The present study also addressed the important practical issues, like maximum loading capacity and the reusability of these beads. Under optimized conditions, equilibrium capacity and maximum loading capacity for Pu(IV) were found to be 2.03 and 7.50 mg per gram of the swollen beads, respectively. The reusability of the beads was also ascertained by repetitive extraction-stripping of Pu(IV) up to 7 cycles of operation, without significant change in their extraction performance. The extraction of Pu(IV) by the blank polymeric beads was observed to be almost negligible, under the similar experimental conditions.