Performance of Some Aminated Polymeric Resins for Separation of Medically Significant Isotopes

⁹⁹Mo and ¹³¹I are the most often used radionuclides in medicine worldwide. On the industrial scale, the majority of ⁹⁹Mo and ¹³¹I production is based on thermal neutron irradiation of ²³⁵U low-enriched targets. The efforts in this work were devoted to developing co-polymeric beads that can be utilized to separate and purify ⁹⁹Mo and ¹³¹I from fission products. Using various methods, distinct aminated styrene-divinyl benzene co-polymeric beads were successfully produced and characterized. The resin networks were found to be homogeneous spherical shapes decorated with a very thin layer of amine moieties and have good thermal stability up to 200 ^oC. Under various circumstances, the produced resins were assessed for separation of ⁹⁹Mo and ¹³¹I from their aqueous solutions. They showed enhanced adsorption capability for MoO₄ ²⁻ and I⁻ ions compared to the reference resins. The elution of ⁹⁹Mo and ¹³¹I radioisotopes loaded on synthesized resins was investigated using various eluents. An additional set of dynamic study experiments was performed using TMA-SDVB resin-packed columns. Data showed that ¹³¹I isotopes had a larger sorption affinity than ⁹⁹Mo isotopes, with the breakthrough sorption capacity of the resins being 153.7 and 331.66 mg.g^-1 for ⁹⁹Mo and ¹³¹I isotopes, respectively. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that Mo(VI) ions were effectively separated from I(I) ions.