Separation of strontium from calcium by means of anion exchanger and alcoholic solution of nitric acid

Abstract

A possibility of mutual separation of calcium and strontium on an anion-exchange column has been studied and then used in working out methods of separation of radioactive strontium from natural samples. All examinations, carried out on model systems, showed that calcium could be completely separated from strontium on the column with the anion exchanger Amberlite CG-400 using 0.25M HNO3 in methanol as eluent. The flow velocity of this eluent in the range between 1 ml/min and 5 ml/min did not influence the efficiency of separation of calcium from strontium. The increase of the concentration of nitric acid in methanol reduced the efficiency of their mutual separation and the increase of exchanger column height neutralized the influence of the increase of acid concentration. Calcium was separated from strontium in the mass concentration ratio γ(Ca2+)/γ(Sr2+) in the range between 1∶1 to 100∶1. This separation procedure may be used for the isolation of radioactive strontium from real samples instead of using fuming nitric acid.