Evaluation of synthetic water-soluble metal-binding polymers with ultrafiltration for selective concentration of americium and plutonium

,Water-soluble metal-binding polymers in combination with ultrafiltration are shown to be an effective method for selectively removing dilute actinide ions from acidic solutions of high ionic strength, The actinirte-binding properties of commercially available water-soluble polymers and several polymers which have been repotted in the literature were evrduated, The functional groups incorporated in the polymers were pyrrolidone, amine, oxime, and carboxylic, phosphoric, or sulfonic acid. The polymer containing phosphoric acid groups gave the best results with high distribution coefficients and concentration factors for 241Am(]II) ~d 238pu(III)/(IV) at pH 4 to 6 and ionic strengths of 0.1 to 4.