Chemical decontamination using natural or artificial bone
OwnerAndrew J. Tofeinventor
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A method of decontaminating a site of metals, particularly radioactive metals, is provided. The contaminated material is contacted with pulverized bone, which sorbs the metals from the contaminated material. The bone may be derived from any animals having bone, such as cattle. Prior to use, the organic compounds of the bone are removed, so that inorganic bone composed primarily of hydroxylapatite is obtained. The morphology of the bone, including its crystalline structure and porosity, is maintained. As an alternative to bone derived from animals, synthetic inorganic bone composed of hydroxylapatite and having a physical structure equivalent to animal-derived bone may be used.
Claims20
A method of decontaminating a site of metals comprising:
- establishing a quantity of bone;
- contacting said metals with said quantity of bone:
- maintaining said contact for a sufficient time so that at least some of said metals are sorbed by at least some of said quantity of bone;
- and
- terminating contact between said metals and saint quantity of bone
- wherein said quantity of bone has had its organic compounds removed prior to said contacting.
A method of decontaminating a site of metals, comprising:
- establishing a quantity of bone;
- contacting said metals with said quantity of bone;
- maintaining said contact for a sufficient time so that at least some of said metals are sorbed by at least some of said quantity of bone;
- and
- terminating contact between said metals and said quantity of bone;
- wherein said bone is synthetic bone.
A synthetic bone useful for sorption of metal compounds, comprising:
- hydroxylapatite having a morphological structure substantially equivalent to natural bone.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.