A Comparison of Americium Extractions as a Function of Time using Two Bis-Triazine-Bipyridine Ligands in Long-Chained Alcohol Diluents

The rate of americium mass transfer between the aqueous and organic phase in a solvent extraction system has been investigated. The ligand used is CyMe4-BTBP and the diluents are long-chained alcohols. The results are compared with earlier reported data using C5-BTBP as ligand. In the C5-BTBP system the rate of the extraction could be correlated with the interfacial tension of the system, while not in the CyMe4-BTBP system. In the CyMe4-BTBP system a high (> 12) or low (< 9) dielectric constant of the diluent affects the equilibrium distribution ratio. Dielectric constants in between these two did not affect the extraction.