Radon capture with silver exchanged zeolites
Journal article, 2012
To enable laboratory work with larger amounts of Ra-226 and its decay products, e.g., Rn-222 and its daughters, these need to be captured in order to avoid unnecessary alpha contamination of the laboratory work space and ventilation systems. In this study, radon gas was pumped through a column filled with the silver exchanged zeolite called "silver exchanged molecular sieves 13X" (Ag84Na2[(AlO2)(86)(SiO2)(106)]. xH(2)O). After exposure to radon, the radioactivity of the zeolite was measured repeatedly using high resolution gamma spectrometry. It was shown that radon was captured and retained in the silver exchanged zeolite. The zeolites' ability to retain radon was decreased by formation of metallic silver, caused by ionizing radiation. However, the zeolite was regenerated by heating and its radon capture ability was restored. The daughters of radon are not in gas phase and will hence stay on the column.
Radon
1981
adsorption
Zeolite
oxygen
llens lr
nitrogen
zeolites
ets-10
xenon
p11
argon
Adsorption
v1
clusters
Author
Hanna Hedström
Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Nuclear Chemistry
Mark Foreman
Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Nuclear Chemistry
Christian Ekberg
Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Nuclear Chemistry
Henrik Ramebäck
Chalmers, Chemical and Biological Engineering, Nuclear Chemistry
Radiochimica Acta
0033-8230 (ISSN)
Vol. 100 6 395-399Subject Categories
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and Medical Imaging
DOI
10.1524/ract.2012.1932