Studies on the separation of 90Y from 90Sr by solvent extraction and supported liquid membrane using TODGA: role of organic diluent

Solvent extraction and supported liquid membrane transport studies on Y(III) and Sr(II) were carried out using both nitric as well as hydrochloric acid feed conditions using N,N,N′,N′-tetra-octyldiglycolamide (TODGA) in several organic diluents. The solvent extraction studies indicated extremely large separation factor (SF) values with chloroform, carbon tetrachloride, 1-decanol and hexone when 6 M HNO₃ was used as the feed. On the other hand, the SF values were 1–2 orders of magnitude lower when the nitric acid concentration was 3 M HNO₃. Significantly large SF values were also obtained from 6 M HCl when xylene, carbon tetrachloride, n-dodecane and hexone were used as the diluent. Though mass transfer was not very promising in the supported liquid membrane studies with most of the diluent systems, quantitative Y(III) transport was observed with 0.1 M TODGA in xylene with negligible Sr(II) transport suggesting possibility of obtaining carrier free ⁹⁰Y. The purity of the radiotracer was checked by half-life method.