2024 AIChE Annual Meeting

(4ko) Advancing f-Elements Separation through Automated High-Throughput Experimentation and Machine Learning

Authors

Augustine, L., Los Alamos National Laboratory
Adelman, S., Los Alamos National Laboratory
Kozimor, S., Los Alamos National Laboratory
Yang, P., Los Alamos National laboratory
  • Brief Biography

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Chemistry Division at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) and a licensed Professional Engineer in Chemical Engineering in New Mexico. I received my Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering (major) and Chemical Engineering (minor) from the UC Berkeley under the guidance of Prof. Rebecca J. Abergel. Prior to my Ph.D., I earned a Master of Engineering in Nuclear Engineering from The University of Tokyo and a Graduate Certificate in Chemical Engineering from Tsinghua University.

  • Research Interests

I am dedicated to applying separation technologies to recover rare earth elements and other critical materials from various waste sources. I am also passionate about sustainable engineering practices.

Postdoctoral Research: I integrate automated high-throughput experimentation with machine learning to improve the separation of strategic materials, including rare earth elements and actinides. I also contribute to the development of the only robotic instrument within the DOE complex designed to conduct separation experiments on radioactive samples, which is featured on the postdoc homepage of LANL.

Doctoral Research: I conducted my doctoral research at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and Idaho National Laboratory, where I developed an innovative method utilizing a hydroxypyridinone ligand in liquid-liquid extraction to enhance the separation f-elements, including lanthanides (4f) and actinides (5f), for the hydrometallurgical reprocessing spent nuclear fuel.

  • Selected Peer-Reviewed Publications (Past 5 Years)
  1. Wang,Y., et al., Advancing Understanding of Plutonium Coordination and Electron Transfer Chemistry in Aqueous Solutions. Adv. (under review)
  2. Wang,Y., et al., Advancing Rare-Earth (4f) and Actinide (5f) Separation through Machine-Learning and Automated High-Throughput Experiments. ACS Sustain. Chem. Eng. (2024).
  3. Wang,Y., et al. Mechanisms of Selenate Adsorption at the Imogolite-Water Interface, Colloids Surf. Physicochem. Eng. Asp. (2023).
  4. Wang,Y., et al. Radiolytic Evaluation of 3,4,3-LI(1,2-HOPO) in Aqueous Solutions, Phys. Chem. B. (2023).
  5. Wang,Y., et al. Hydrophilic Chelators for Aqueous Reprocessing of Spent Nuclear Fuel, Purif. Rev. (2023).
  6. Wang,Y., et al. Radiochemical Separation Techniques in Classroom Settings, Chem. Educ. (2023).
  7. Wang,Y., et al. Hydroxypyridinone-Based Stabilization of Np(IV) Enabling Efficient U/Np/Pu Separations in the Adapted PUREX Process, Purif. Technol. (2021).
  8. Wang,Y., et al. Hydroxypyridinone Derivatives: A Low-pH Alternative to Polyaminocarboxylates for TALSPEAK-like Separation of Trivalent Actinides from Lanthanides, ACS Omega. (2020).