Production yield of residues in ¹¹B+⁹³Nb reaction and separation of trace scale Pd from bulk Nb using liquid-liquid extraction

ABSTRACT

The yields of ^101,100,99Pd, ^101m,100,99mRh, ⁹⁷Ru from ¹¹B+⁹³Nb reactions are measured at energies within 30–63 MeV, and are compared with the theoretical model calculations. A chemical separation method has been developed to extract the minuscule amount of Pd from the bulk Nb using cation exchanger di-(2-ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (HDEHP) as an organic phase in liquid–liquid extraction (LLX). The chemical separation was achieved using stable Pd and Nb isotopes simulating the ¹¹B(⁹³Nb,xn)^101,100Pd reaction. The concentration of stable isotopes was monitored using the Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES). The optimum separation condition was obtained at 1% HDEHP and 1M HNO₃ that led to a separation factor of 10³.

KEYWORDS:

• ¹¹B-induced reaction
• Production yield
• Liquid-liquid extraction
• HDEHP
• ICP-OES

Acknowledgments

Authors are thankful to the staff of BARC-TIFR Pelletron facility for their cooperation and help during the experiment. D. Kumar acknowledges the financial support of MHRD, Govt. of India. The work is also supported by the DAE-SINP Five-year plan project TULIP.