Recovery of 131I from fission 99Mo production process by distillation method

• Autor(a) principal: DAMASCENO, MARCOS O.
• Data de Publicação: 2018
• Outros Autores: BALOGH, TATIANA S., FORBICINI, CHRISTINA A.L.G. de O., INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR ATLANTIC CONFERENCE
• Tipo de documento: Artigo de conferência
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional do IPEN
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.ipen.br/handle/123456789/28307

The results of one of the recovery stages of 131I as a byproduct of the 99Mo fission production process are presented in this work. A modified wet-distillation apparatus was used for iodide purification and some work parameters were tested. The assays included iodide anion eluent, concentration of H2SO4, H2O2, the catalyst effect of MoO3, temperature and time process. The results of eluting anions demonstrated lower recovery of 131I using nitrate salt. The sulfate solution and its respective acid (H2SO4) at concentration 1.6 M, presented better results. Hydrogen peroxide was used as a main oxidant of the ions iodide, the experiments realized with 6 mL of H2O2 3% showed higher recovery than assays prepared with H2O2 higher and lower amount. Molybdenum oxide was evaluated as catalyst of iodine in solution; however, the results did not demonstrate an advantage in relation to its absence. In addition, the recovery of iodide was delayed at initial periods of the process in presence of the catalyst, leading to an increase on time process. Temperature decrease of distillation solution from 80 to 50 ??C showed advantageous since the recovery yields were similar beside a lower wet drag to trap solution. Time distillation was carried out at least four hours with sampling each hour; the best times were between 1 and 2 hours. Shorter periods of distillation avoid dilution of the capture solution on the further recovery process. Several parameters were studied and it was possible to set up system that provided 131I recovery around 50% yield.