Separation of palladium from a simulated radioactive liquid waste by precipitation using ascorbic acid

The separation characteristics of palladium (Pd) from a simulated radwaste solution by ascorbic acid was investigated. Pd was selectively precipitated by the reduction reaction of Pd with ascorbic acid. For a 1-component syst em with only Pd, over 99.9% Pd was precipitated at ascorbic acid concentrat ions above 0.025 M. When the nitric acid concentration in a 7-components sy stem (Pd, Rh, Ru, Fe, Mo, Cs, Sr) was below 2.0 M, Pd over 99.5% was select ively precipitated at an ascorbic acid concentration above 0.06 M while the other elements mainly remained in the solution. As the nitric acid concent ration in the simulated solution increases, the precipitation yields of Pd decrease. Pd precipitates formed by ascorbic acid were confirmed as Pd meta l from XRD analysis results.