Synergistic extraction of rare earth elements, actinium, americium, and barium with TTA and Pb resin from acetate buffer solutions

The uptake behavior of 88Y, 140Ba, 140La, 141Ce, 152Eu, 228Ac, and 241Am was studied with batch uptake, kinetics and column studies in a synergistic extraction system with Pb resin and 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone in acetate-ethanol solutions. The k′ values are very high (> 10,000) at near neutral pH (~ 5 to 6) for all of the radioisotopes studied. The kinetics are reasonably fast for column separations, though the uptake rate is dependent on the concentration of 2-thenoyltrifluoroacetone. Column studies were performed to demonstrate the separation of the trivalent actinides and lanthanides from barium and common fission products (99Mo, 103Ru).