Effect of Surface Treatment on Adsorption and Desorption Behavior of Impregnated Adsorbent for Extraction Chromatography

Abstract

Extraction chromatography has attracted attention as a technique to recovery minor actinides (MA) from high-level radioactive liquid waste. In this study, we carried out various surface treatment to change the polarity of N,N,N’,N’-tetraoctyl diglycolamide (TODGA) adsorbent used in this process, and evaluated its adsorption performance. The surface treatments significantly changed the adsorption/desorption behavior of Nd(III) in nitric acid solution, in terms of the distribution coefficient, adsorption rate, and adsorption capacities. These effects were attributed to changes in the internal structure and hydrophilicity of the adsorbent. Our results suggest that it is necessary to optimize the adsorbent used in the separation and recovery of MA(III) by tuning its surface properties as well as the pore size or particle diameter.