Selective separation of 152Eu from a mixture of 152Eu and 137Cs using a chitosan based hydrogelElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: IR spectra, NMR spectra, SLX profile of 152Eu and 137Cs in solid phase (ChG) by varying shaking time and settling of the medium. See DOI: 10.1039/c5ra14976b

A rapid and novel technique was developed to separate long-lived fission products 152 Eu ( T 1/2 = 13.33 years) and 137 Cs ( T 1/2 = 30.17 years) using a solid liquid extraction (SLX) technique with a chitosan biopolymer based hydrogel (ChG). In this technique, ChG selectively adsorped 152 Eu (∼87%) from the mixture of 152 Eu and 137 Cs without any contamination of 137 Cs. Simple back extraction using 1 M aqueous HCl from 152 Eu-adsorped-ChG leads to pure 152 Eu (∼72%). The adsorption behavior of 152 Eu on ChG depends on pH and radiation dose. The structural, mechanical, thermal and morphological characterization of ChG was confirmed by FT-IR, solid state NMR, rheology measurement, SEM, TG-DTG, DSC and XRD studies. The rheological study shows a higher value of the storage modulus ( G ′) than the loss modulus ( G ′′), demonstrating that the rheological behavior in the ChG has a majority of visco elastic solid nature. A rapid and novel technique was developed to separate long-lived fission products 152 Eu ( T 1/2 = 13.33 years) and 137 Cs ( T 1/2 = 30.17 years) using a solid liquid extraction (SLX) technique with a chitosan biopolymer based hydrogel (ChG).