Ml. Dietz et al., EXTRACTION OF STRONTIUM FROM ACIDIC NITRATE MEDIA USING A MODIFIED PUREX SOLVENT, Solvent extraction and ion exchange, 13(1), 1995, pp. 1-17
A new process for the extraction and recovery of strontium from acidic
waste streams is described. In this process, a modification of the pr
eviously described SREX (for strontium extraction) process, strontium
is extracted from acidic (greater than or equal to 2 M nitric acid) so
lution using a 0.2 M solution of di-t-butylcyclohexano-18-crown-6 in a
ny of a variety of phase modifier/paraffinic hydrocarbon mixtures, amo
ng them a PUREX-like diluent comprised of a 1.2 M solution of tri-n-bu
tyl-phosphate in Isopar L. Tests of this process solvent on a syntheti
c dissolved sludge waste show that only strontium and barium are appre
ciably extracted by the crown ether under the experimental conditions.
As expected, uranium and plutonium are extracted even in the absence
of the crown ether.