Process for the separation and purification of yttrium-90 for medical applications
AssigneeThe United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy
InventorsPhilip E. Horwitz, Mark L. Dietz
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Abstract
An extraction chromatographic method for the preparation of .sup.90 Y of high chemical and radiochemical purity is disclosed. After an initial purification of a .sup.90 Sr stock solution and a suitable period of .sup.90 Y ingrowth, the solution is passed through a series of strontium-selective chromatographic columns, each of which lowers the .sup.90 Sr content of the mixture by a factor of about 10.sup.3. The .sup.90 Y remaining is freed from any residual .sup.90 Sr, from its .sup.90 Zr daughter, and from any remaining impurities by passing the sample through a final column designed to selectively retain yttrium.
Claims8
A process for the separation and purification of yttrium-90 from strontium-90 comprising:
- a) purifying an original .sup.90 Sr solution by dissolving the residue remaining after evaporation of the original solution in nitric acid and passing it through a strontium-selective chromatographic column;
- b) stripping sorbed .sup.90 Sr with dilute nitric acid;
- c) removing any traces of organic materials present in the purified .sup.90 Sr by passing it through a bed of a polymeric sorbent;
- d) storing the .sup.90 Sr solution for a sufficient period of time to allow .sup.90 Y ingrowth to occur in the solution to provide a .sup.90 Sr/.sup.90 Y mixture;
- e) acidifying the .sup.90 Sr/.sup.90 Y mixture and passing the mixture through a series of strontium-selective extractant columns such that essentially all of the .sup.90 Sr is retained on the columns and the effluent from the third column contains essentially only .sup.90 Y;
- f) passing the .sup.90 Y effluent through a rare-earth selective extractant such that .sup.90 Y is retained while any residual .sup.90 Sr is stripped away;
- g) eluting sorbed .sup.90 Y from the rare-earth selective column;
- h) stripping each of the strontium-selective extractant columns of sorbed .sup.90 Sr with dilute nitric acid and returning to storage to allow for new .sup.90 Y growth.
A process for the separation and purification of curie quantities of yttrium-90 from strontium-90 comprising:
- a) contacting an original feed stock strontium-90 solution with a strontium-selective extraction chromatographic resin whereby purified strontium is retained, and any yttrium and zirconium present in the solution are flushed away;
- b) removing any traces of organic materials from the purified strontium solution and storing this solution for a sufficient period of time to allow yttrium-90 ingrowth to occur so that a strontium-90/yttrium-90 mixture is obtained;
- c) acidifying the strontium-90/yttrium-90 mixture and selectively separating the strontium-90 from the yttrium-90 by contacting the mixture with a series of strontium- selective extraction columns such that strontium is retained on the columns and that the effluent from the last column contains only yttrium-90;
- d) contacting the yttrium-90 containing effluent with a rare-earth selective extraction column such that yttrium-90 is retained and any residual strontium-90 is not retained;
- e) eluting the sorbed yttrium-90 from the rare-earth selective column.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.