Long chain disubstituted aliphatic amides as extracting agents in industrial applications of solvent extraction

Abstract

In comparison with tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP), N, N′dialkyl aliphatic amides present some potential advantages as extracting agents of actinides in the reprocessing of irradiated nuclear fuels. One of the more evident of these advantages is the benign nature of amide degradation products; solvent treatment is thus simplified, and higher irradiation doses can be tolerated. A second advantage over TBP is the greater selectivity of dialkyl amides for several important fission products thus providing higher decontamination of uranium and plutonium products. On the other hand, the tendency of amides to form slightly soluble adducts with uranium in nitric acid media restricts the number of amides suitable for practical applications. N, N′dialkyl amides may also present some interest in hydrometallurgical applications in non-nuclear fields. A review of our own research with these compounds integrated with results obtained by other authors in previous papers is presented here. © 1986, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved.