DIDPA acid process

There are various types of organic proton exchangers (34, 35, 38). Diesters of phosphoric acid, (RO)2P = 0(0H), phosphonic acids, R(RO)P = 0(0H), and phos-phinic acids, R2P = 0(0H), where R represents linear or branched alkyl or phenyl substituents, are the most common cation exchangers developed in liquid-liquid extraction for the extraction of trivalent 4/and 5/elements. They were initially developed for the American TALSPEAK and the Japanese DIDPA processes and have recently been introduced in the French DIAMEX-SANEX process. As for previously described NOPCs, these organophosphorus acids present oxygen-donor atoms (hard bases) in their structures and therefore will easily coordinate trivalent lanthanide and actinide cations, but they will not allow complete discrimination of the two families of elements. However, contrary to previously described neutral organophosphorus... 

As described in Figure 3.7, TRU separation is performed by implementing the DIDPA process on pretreated PUREX raffinates. A front-end denitration step by formic acid is thus required to reduce the nitric acid concentration of the feed down to 0.5 M to allow the TRU elements to be extracted by the cation exchanger di-fvo-dccyl-phosphoric acid (DIDPA). This preliminary step, however, induces the precipitation of Mo and Zr (and thus the potential carrying of Pu), which requires filtration steps. The TRU and Ln(III) elements are coextracted by a solvent composed of the dimerized DIDPA and TBP, dissolved at 0.5 and 0.1 M, respectively, in n-dodecane. The An(III) + Ln(III) fraction is back-extracted into a concentrated 4 M nitric acid solution, whereas Np and Pu are selectively stripped by oxalic acid. 

Di-iso-decylphosphoric Acid The DIDPA Process An(III) and Ln(III) can be partitioned using the DIDPA solvent (DIDPA and TBP, respectively dissolved at 0.5 and 0.1 M in n-dodecane) in a two-step process approach. First coextracted and costripped in a 4 M nitric acid solution in a first DIDPA cycle (see Section 3.3.1.1.4), the An(III) + Ln(III) fraction is partitioned in a second cycle after denitration of the An(III) + Ln(III) product by formic acid to reduce the nitric acid concentration to at least 0.5 M. In this second DIDPA cycle, An(III) and Ln(III) are first coextracted by the DIDPA solvent, and the An(III) are selectively stripped by DTPA (0.05-0.1 M) in a solution buffered at pH 3 with lactic acid (1 M). The triva-lent lanthanides are further stripped with a 4 M nitric acid solution (134). 

As shown in Figure 6, diisodecylphosphoric acid (DIDPA) gives higher distribution ratios compared with those of DEHPA, being more suitable for using as extractant at higher acid concentrations. One M DIDPA diluted with normal paraffins can be used to recover americium and lanthanides from the HLW of PUREX process. 

The separation of americium from the lanthanides is feasible by either solvent extraction or ion-exchange process. For the solvent extraction, 0.25 M DIDPA diluted with diisopropylbenzene (DIPB) provides appropriate distribution ratios of americium between the organic phase and the aqueous phase composed of 0.05 M NasDTPA and 1 M lactic acid. 

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