Poly-hydroxamic acid (PHA) matrix for gadolinium pre-concentration and removal Mousumi Singha • Sangita Pal • K. N. Hareendran • S. B. Roy Received: 7 July 2014 Ó Akade ´miai Kiado ´, Budapest, Hungary 2014 Abstract A novel hydrophilic, three dimensionally cross- linked, aliphatic backbones with pendant hydroxamic acid (HA) group as functional moiety has been synthesized and utilized targeting removal of gadolinium [Gd(III)] from laboratory waste aqueous effluent. To understand the nat- ure of sorption, gadolinium solution of various concentra- tions viz., 20, 10, 5.0, 1.0, 0.5 and 0.1 ppm has been contacted with a dose rate of 1 g/100 mL for 2 h. In this study, ICP-AES has been used for determination of con- centration (ppm) of gadolinium in feed, filtrate and elute. EDXRF study also ensures the presence of gadolinium in the respective medium. Loaded gadolinium matrix was eluted with 1 N HCl for determining the elution factor (0.98). Keywords Gadolinium  Loaded resin  Regeneration  ICP-AES  EDXRF  Recovery  Elution factor Introduction Gadolinium is a member of the lanthanide series of the periodic table and is considered as one of the valuable metal mainly w.r.t, strategic use in the field of electronic, mechanical devices, instruments, fluorescent material, electronic industry, structural components, nuclear industry [1] etc. Radiotracer Gadolinium-i.e., Gd(III) is used in many quality assurance applications, such as line sources and calibration phantoms, to ensure nuclear medicine imaging systems operation and produce useful images of radioisotope distribution inside the patient [2–4]. Gd-153 isotope is used [4] in X-ray fluorescence and osteoporosis screening. It is a gamma-emitter with an 8-month half-life, making it easier to use for medical purposes [6–9]. In nuclear medicine, it serves to calibrate the equipment needed like single-photon emission computed tomography systems (SPECT) to make X-rays. This isotope is produced in a nuclear reactor from europium or enriched Gd(III). It can also detect the loss of calcium in the hip and back bones, allowing the ability to diagnose osteoporosis. The used radiotracer Gd(III) is generally disposed as lab effluent in different testing experiment [6, 9], various scanning, imaging and dose rate study in animals and their excretory product etc. Besides these, there are some special and strategic application of Gd(III) for capturing of neu- tron. Even in most of the pressurized heavy water reactors gadolinium (Gd(III)) is employed as a soluble neutron poison [1] for reactivity control and to provide an inde- pendent and alternate shutdown capability mechanism. Advantage of using gadolinium (as gadolinium Gd(III) nitrate) is due to its high thermal neutron absorption cross section, quick burn out, greater solubility in desirable acidity (pH-6) applicable to the moderator and efficient removal by ion exchange method. Summary of the above referred application areas implies generation of waste effluent substantially contaminated with Gd(III) and may address an issue of perniciousness. Used Radio-tracers may find their way into the environment can cause harmful effects as radioactive contamination. They can also cause damage if they are excessively in contact with body organs during treatment or in other ways (run off lab effluent) applied to living beings, by radiation poisoning if not taken M. Singha (&)  K. N. Hareendran  S. B. Roy Uranium Extraction Division, BARC, Mumbai 400 085, India e-mail: mousim@barc.gov.in S. Pal Desalination Division (DD), BARC, Mumbai 400 085, India e-mail: sangpal@barc.gov.in; drspal.olivia@gmail.com 123 J Radioanal Nucl Chem DOI 10.1007/s10967-014-3416-3