Application of neutron - radiation analysis for controlling fullness of saturation of sorbtional columns by rhenium

Full text: In industrial obtaining of ammonium perrhenate at copper melting site of Almalyk mining plant fullness of saturation of sorbtional columns by rhenium is controlled by chemical analysis of content of technologically important elements in sulfuric acid solutions at entrance and exit from sorbtional columns. As is known duration of chemical analysis is relatively long and it doesn't offer possibilities of operative actions on process. In this work possibilities of application of neutron radiation method of analyzing element content based on neutron capture instantaneous gamma-ray spectrometry are considered. This method possesses such advantages among analytical methods as contactlessness, instrumentality, depth expressness of analysis and transportability of device for execution of methods. With the aim of investigation of possibilities of determination of saturation fullness of solid extragents by rhenium a transportable device based on radionuclide source (Cf 252) of neutrons with yield of 5xl07 neutrons/sec. is assembled. The work is carried out on model sorbtional column filled with solid extragent with various degrees of saturation by rhenium and other elements present in real technological solutions: Mo, Cu, As, Fe, etc. The obtained results show that content of rhenium which is sorbed in solid extragent can be determined by gamma-line 316.5 keV for measurement time of 10 minutes with relative error of less than 10 %, with rhenium content of 30 - 120 g/kg