Separation of la, Ce and Pr radiotracers on charcoal impregnated Mo(VI) from chloride and sulphate solutions

The adsorption of La (III), Ce(III), Pr(III) and Ce(IV) tracers on charcoal impregnated molybdate (VI) from aqueous solutions were investigated by the batch equilibration and the column breakthrough methods as a function of H+, Cl- and/or SO2-4 concentrations. Adsorption is found to decrease with increasing the H+ and/or SO2-4 concentration in solution in the order; La3+ (Cl-) > Ce3+ (Cl-) > Pr3+(Cl-)≥ Ce4+ (SO2-4 ). The capacity is about 1.1 meq/g of the exchanger for any of the radionuclides investigated. Based on these results a successful separation of141 Ce -143 Pr and140 La -141 Ce couples were achieved on charcoal impregnated molybdate (VI) columns using proper eluants of HCl and Na2 SO4/HCl mixture.6 fig