Studies on Separation of 90Y and 90Sr Separation from Hydrochloric Acid Solutions Using TODGA as the Extractant by SLM Method

Yttrium-90 is an important radionuclide known for its therapeutic application in nuclear medicine. Solvent extraction studies with N,N,N’,N’-tetra-octyldiglycolamide (TODGA) has shown that Y(III) is well extracted in 6 M HCl while at the same time, extraction of Sr(II) is very low leading to a separation factor (DY/DSr = 60,000). This property of TODGA can be exploited for the separation of Y from Sr. The aim of this present work is to produce carrier free 90Y by using Supported Liquid Membrane (SLM) based separation of Y and Sr with TODGA as the carrier. Solvent extraction studies with various diluents viz. 1-decanol, xylene, MIBK, chloroform etc. indicated that xylene and n-dodecane are most suitable as S.F. >50,000 are obtained. Based on the results, a SLM based separation scheme was developed using 0.1 M TODGA in xylene loaded on a microporous PTFE membrane as a polymeric support and 6 M HCl as feed and 0.01 M HCl as strip phase. The results appear promising for the development of SLM based Y-90 generator. The purity of the product was ascertained by the half life method.