Recovery of Zn(II) from Simulated Liquid Waste Using Poly(Vinyl Alcohol-Acrylamide) Synthesized by Gamma Radiolysis Method

The recovery of enriched Zn-68 is extremely important in the production of short-lived isotope (Ga-67) in the Cyclotron because of its high price. A high amount of Zn-68 is produced during the production of Ga-67 from its target (Zn-target) by a solvent extraction technique. In this investigation, we successfully prepared poly(vinyl alcohol-t-acrylamide), P(VA-t-AM) resin using the gamma radiolysis technique. The characterization of pristine PVA and synthesized P(VA-t-AM) was performed to confirm their structures. The produced polymer was tested for the elimination of Zn 2+ ions from simulated liquid waste as produced during the production of the Ga-67. To get the highest uptake of Zn 2+ ions on the polymer, various parameters such as solution pH, polymer weight, and contact time were applied. The loading Zn 2+ ions were studied at optimum conditions of the Batch approach. Then, the retrieval of Zn 2+ ions from the packed chromatographic column was tested using different parameters such as flow rates, bed depths, and initial concentration of Zn 2+ . The results indicated that the percentages of loaded Zn 2+ ions on the packed column were 96.94% at the best operational conditions. Moreover, different eluents were applied to the retrieval of Zn 2+ ions from the P(VA-t-AM) column, and the data confirmed that the retrieval percentage of Zn 2+ ions from P(VA-t-AM) was 98.43% at the optimum. The reusability of the working polymer was examined for eight cycles. This paper recommended that the synthesized P(VA-t-AM) can be utilized for the retrieval of Zn 2+ ions from the spent Zn-68 target in the Cyclotron.