Adsorption of cobal, zinc, barium and cesium from dilute solutions

Abstract

It has been shown that a maximum of 97 per cent of the zinc in a solution containing 8 × 10 −8 mole/30 ml can be removed from solution by a single filtration through Schleicher and Schuell Blue Ribbon paper at pH 6·5 when the ammonium salt concentration is 3 × 10 −6 M. Under similar conditions 70 per cent of the cobalt present in a solution containing 2·8 × 10 −9 mole/30 ml can be removed. Only 43–46 per cent of barium and 5–6 per cent of cesium are removed from solutions which have 3 × 10 −9 mole/30 ml and less than 10 −8 mole/30 ml respectively. The above results permit the conclusions that unweighable quantities of zinc and cobalt ions in solution with cesium, and probably other alkali metal salts can be separated from these salts by adjustment of pH with ammonia and filtering the solutions. The cobalt and zinc which may be radioactive are recoverable in almost invisible quantities of solid, (after ammonium salt sublimation) suitable for nuclear spectroscopy studies or for other use which requires relatively salt free high specific activity tracers.