High pressure ion chromatography—using a high-pressure pump to enable more rapid separation of ions—is one of the fastest and most efficient ways to do chemical separations.

Gaddis, one of the ORNL scientists working on the Tri-Lab Ac-225 production project with scientists from Los Alamos and Brookhaven, took advantage of modern HPIC technology to speed up the production of Ac-225, for which there's high demand because of its use in cancer treatments. Over the past four years, he builtan automated HPIC capable of being used in a hot cell, which he opines is the only one adapted for use in a hot cell. A prototype of this system has now been  tested and patented

An automated HPIC system incorporating the features suitable for hot cell operations, is planned to be installed in the hot cell used for Ac-225 production by this fall. Gaddis also hopes that the system can be used for the six separations required to process Ac-225 and, ultimately, in the separation of other isotopes.

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Source: PHYS-ORG