Review of High-Speed Countercurrent Chromatography in Separation of Lanthanides and Actinides

Abstract

In the field of radiochemistry, separation of lanthanides and actinides has always been one of the research hotspots. In order to achieve the burnup analysis, the lanthanide and actinide elements in the solution need to be separated. High pressure liquid chromatography and other commonly used methods cannot meet the separation requirements due to small processing capacity. On the other hand, liquid-liquid extraction method has a higher handling capacity, but the separation efficiency is low. High-speed countercurrent chromatography(HSCCC) is a novel separation method that gets rid of solid support. Having been widely used in the separation of bioactive substances, it combines the advantages of liquid-liquid extraction and distribution chromatography. Its unique advantages have also attracted the attention of radiochemistry researchers. In this paper, the basic structure, principle and characteristics of high-speed countercurrent chromatography(HSCCC) are introduced, the research progress in the separation of lanthanide and actinide elements is reviewed, and its application in radiochemistry is prospected.

Keywords

• chromatographic separation
• high-speed countercurrent chromatography
• lanthanides separation
• actinides separation