Behavior of Actinium, Alkaline, and Rare Earth Elements in Sr-Resin/Mineral Acid Systems

Abstract

In this work, the interactions between the divalent alkaline earth elements (AEE) (Sr, Ba, Ra), the trivalent rare earth elements (REE) (Ce-Lu, Y), and Ac(III) with Sr-resin were investigated in the presence of HNO₃, HCl, HBr, HClO₄, and HPF₆. Distribution coefficients of these ions on the Sr-resin were determined under batch-loading conditions. Lastly, online column separations were performed to demonstrate the utility of these systems. Substantial differences in the behavior of the ions in solutions comprised of the five different acids were observed. These differences can partly be explained by a combination of ion exchange (primary) and extraction (solvation) mechanisms. From a practical point of view, the Sr-resin/HClO₄ or Sr-resin/HPF₆ systems were demonstrated to be effective for the separation and purification of the different groups of the elements.

Keywords:

• alkaline earth elements
• rare earth elements
• actinium
• Sr-resin
• super acid
• extraction
• ion exchange

Additional information

Funding

Financial support of this project was provided by Russian Foundation for Fundamental Research grant (RFBR 10-03-93107).