A. Ramaswami

Separation of carrier-free 95Tc from alpha-irradiated natural niobium

Abstract95Tc has been produced through α-particle activation of a natural niobium target. The carrier-free 95Tc radionuclide has been separated from the bulk target using tri-n-octylamine (TOA) diluted by cyclohexane as extracting agent and HCl, HNO3 as aqueous phase. Solid-liquid extraction has also been carried out with TOA impregnated Kieselguhr mineral acid system. Technetium-95 was recovered from the organic phase by stripping with 0.1M EDTA above pH 9.

Separation of rare earths by reverse phase partition chromatography

Individual separation of rare earth isotopes from lanthanum to lutetium has been carried out using reverse phase partition chromatography and analyzed by γ-ray spectrometric technique. HDEHP from FLUKA and BDH on inert support celite has been used as extracting agent, whereas hydrochloric acid of different molarities was used as eluting agent. Good separation between individual rare earths has been achieved but the elution pattern differs based on the HDEHP from FLUKA and BDH.