Development of a Pilot Plant for the Removal of Rhenium from Molybdenum Trioxide

摘要

Reagent grade molybdenum trioxide used as a target material for the preparation of Tc-99m pharmaceuticals contains trace amounts of rhenium. A simple charcoal adsorptions process has been developed to remove rhenium selectively from molybdenum before neutron irradiation. Details are given of the design and operation of a pilot plant in which 17 kg of molybdenum trioxide was produced having a rhenium content of less than 1 x 10 sup -6 mu g g sup -1 . Although contamination of the Tc-99m by inactive rhenium and sup 188 Re was effectively eliminated, sup 188 Re resulting from the irradiation of tungsten impurity in the molybdenum trioxide target was still present. (Atomindex citation 17:061572)