Investigation on Separation of ¹⁴⁷Pm from Nd by Cation Exchange Chromatography

Reactor irradiation of enriched ¹⁴⁶Nd targets represents an important route for the production of ¹⁴⁷Pm, where the major challenge lies in the efficient separation of trace ¹⁴⁷Pm from a bulk Nd matrix. To establish a feasible separation process of ¹⁴⁷Pm/Nd, the adsorption and separation behaviors of Nd and ¹⁴⁷Pm on AG 50W×8 strong-acid cation-exchange resin were systematically investigated. Samarium was employed as a chemical surrogate for ¹⁴⁷Pm during the optimization of process parameters.Batch adsorption results demonstrated that, in dilute hydrochloric acid media (0.0001-0.1 mol/L HCl), Nd and ¹⁴⁷Pm reached adsorption equilibrium within 10 min. The adsorption kinetics followed a pseudo-second-order model, and the adsorption isotherms were well described by the Langmuir model. The maximum adsorption capacities of the resin for Nd(Ⅲ) and Sm(Ⅲ) were determined to be 236.9 mg/g和210.9 mg/g, respectively, from which the adsorption capacity of ¹⁴⁷Pm can be reasonably inferred to lie between those of Nd and Sm. Based on the batch adsorption results, systematic column separation studies were carried out using Sm as a surrogate for ¹⁴⁷Pm. The optimal chromatographic conditions were determined to be 0.4 mol/L α-hydroxyisobutyric acid (α-HIBA) as the eluent at pH 4.1, a flow rate of 1.0 BV/h, and a temperature of 75 ℃. Under these conditions, separation experiments using ¹⁴⁷Pm as a tracer demonstrated that ¹⁴⁷Pm was preferentially eluted prior to Nd, achieving a resolution of 1.21 and a recovery yield exceeding 88.1%.This study establishes a cation-exchange chromatographic process coupled with complexing elution for the separation of ¹⁴⁷Pm from Nd, providing a practical experimental basis for the purification of ¹⁴⁷Pm from irradiated ¹⁴⁶Nd targets.