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A procedure for the pre-concentration and separation of trace amounts of Eu and U by solid phase extraction using Tulsion CH-90 resin (with imino diacetate functional group) has been developed. The determinations of europium and uranium have been carried out by a radiotracer technique using 152,154Eu and 233U radionuclides. The experiments were carried out using both batch and column techniques. Parameters such as equilibration rate, effect of pH, sorption and desorption of metal ions have been studied. The maximum sorption capacities for Eu and U were found to be 0.31 mmolg–1 at pH 5.3 and 0.96 mmolg–1 at pH 3.1 respectively.

Experiments were carried out with several other radionuclides on the uptake of those metal ions by Tulsion CH-90 resin but it was found that the uptake was very low. Compared to Eu and U, adsorption of radionuclides like 85, 89Sr, and 137Cs on Tulsion resin is very low as can be seen from Fig. 2. Tables 1 and 2 represent the % recovery of Eu and U (2 ppm), respectively in the presence of 1000 times excess of each of Cs and Sr as binary as well as multi-component mixtures. In both cases, the solid phase extraction of the analyte metal ions were quite high and comparable suggesting marginal or no interference from Cs, Sr or their mixtures.