Extraction of caesium from mosses and incorporation into an oxalate crystalline lattice.
The ratios of stable and radioactive isotopes in the environment are not constant and their effects on living organisms are not the same. Whilst radionuclides can be monitored by measuring their radioactivity levels, it is also important to determine the stable isotopes. The method described in this paper represents a simple and cheap process by which to extract caesium from moss, without significant destruction of the plant, and to incorporate the isolated caesium into a water-soluble crystal. Ammonium oxalate and phosphoric acid are water-soluble substances at 5% concentration but, when the solutions are combined, crystallisation occurs. Crystals were estimated to contain 68.30% O, 20.98% C, 4.68% H, 6.04% N and less than 0.01% P, corresponding to NH4HC2O4 x H2C2O4 x 2H2O (C4H11NO10). The crystal mass did not vary with the species of moss, although the effectiveness of caesium extraction did. Typically, 73.0 +/- 6.1% of the solubilised caesium was entrapped within the crystals.
Nedić
Olgica
O
INEP-Institute for the Application of Nuclear Energy, Banatska 31b, 11080 Belgrade-Zemun, Serbia and Montenegro (SCG). olgica@inep.co.yu
Dragović
Snezana
S
D044002:Bryophyta / Q000737:chemistry*; D002586:Cesium / Q000737:chemistry / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes / Q000032:analysis*; D018360:Crystallography, X-Ray; D010070:Oxalates / Q000737:chemistry*; D010756:Phosphoric Acids / Q000737:chemistry; D015022:Yugoslavia
D002588:Cesium Radioisotopes; D010070:Oxalates; D010756:Phosphoric Acids; D002586:Cesium; C030242:phosphoric acid