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Preparation of chromatographic columns requires considerable time during chemical separation procedures. Automated systems capable of repeatedly generating renewable, uniformly packed columns would find widespread use in analytical laboratories. Here, a fully automated commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) system was utilized to pack and unpack 1 mL TEVA and UTEVA columns. To accurately determine the reproducibility of the resin load per column, studies were conducted over several weeks. Method optimization yielded an improvement in loading from 15–19% to 3–5% relative standard deviation. Availability of automated COTS equipment capable of reproducibly generating separation columns has the potential to reduce time and costs associated with column separation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among the different components present in spent nuclear fuel, long-lived trivalent actinides are particularly difficult to separate from the shorter-lived lanthanide fission products due to their similar chemical properties. Selective extraction of americium from acidic solution (up to 2M HNO3) containing tenth molar quantities of lanthanides has been achieved using neutral pyridine-based ligands dissolved in polar diluents. Nitrogen-based Bis Triazinyl Pyridine (BTP) ligands are desirable for both their excellent An/Ln selectivity and incinerability. Results pertaining to ligand solubility, kinetics, hydrolytic stability, and extraction performance in various nitric acid environments are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]