Developing Inorganic Resins for Radium and Actinium Generators and Purifications

The inorganic, normal-phase sorbents alumina, titania, and zirconia were evaluated and screened for the separation of Ba, La, 228 Ra, 228 Ac, and 212 Pb in a dilute acid matrix.The results show that the sorbents are capable of fractionating the ions between pH 1-8.Acetate and total metal ion concentrations were experimentally evaluated as factors that could affect retention using La and Ba surrogates.Pseudo-second order rate constants were derived and the uptake of La was determined to be endothermic.A stationary zirconia column was used to isolate Ba from La and Ra from Ac/Pb; elution profiles of each separation are presented.The utility and implications of these sorbents are discussed with respects to large-scale production of 225 Ac from radium targets.This work was published in 2020 and in 2022.