Molybdenum Recovery from Filters Used in Large-scale Dissolution of Sintered Mo-disks

Technical Report · Fri Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1765363· OSTI ID:1765363

Bettinardi, David J. ^[1]; Tkac, Peter ^[1]

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1. Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)

⁹⁹Mo production with linear accelerators can be achieved via the bremsstrahlung photonuclear reaction ¹⁰⁰Mo(γ,n)⁹⁹Mo or the neutron capture reaction ⁹⁸Mo(n,γ)⁹⁹Mo. For commercial producers, maximum recovery of enriched ⁹⁸Mo and ¹⁰⁰Mo target material is critical for sustaining an economic production cycle. During the peroxide dissolution of Mo metal disks and subsequent conversion to K₂MoO₄, several grams of Mo can be lost during filtration from solution when several hundred grams of sintered Mo disks are processed. This investigation shows that 5–8 g Mo is routinely retained on the filter units, but it can be almost fully recovered using aqueous washes. Washing can be done immediately and incorporated into the dissolution procedure, or it can occur several months after the initial filtration process to decrease processing time.

• Research Organization: Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), Office of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-06CH11357
• OSTI ID: 1765363
• Report Number(s): ANL-21/04; 165705; TRN: US2215144
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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