Removal of 177Lu from radioactive wastewater using Montmorillonite clay.

Because radioactive 177Lu has a wide range of possible applications in radiopharmaceuticals, its removal from medical wastewater is particularly important. Montmorillonite clay was employed as an adsorbent in this study. Radioactive solutions were prepared with dilutions of the solution containing 177Lu at various concentrations, in which it was present as Lu3+. ULEGe detector in gamma spectrometer was used to measure 177Lu gamma rays emitted from the radioactive aqueous solutions. The results obtained showed that it is possible to remove 177Lu with a high yield of approximately 90% and it is effective in a period of 90 min under acidic conditions. From the findings, it can be argued that Montmorillonite clay, as an abundant and sustainable adsorbent, may also be suitable for the disposal of different radioactive medical wastes such as 131I and 99mTc, and also the technique based on gamma ray spectroscopy can be used for fast and practical measurements of radioactive material amounts. • 177Lu could be removed from aqueous systems in a relatively short time, with an efficiency of about 90%, by Montmorillonite. • The adsorption mechanism is predominantly ion exchange and ion coupling, and the interactions between Lu3+ ions. • The adsorption of Lu3+ is in agreement with the pseudo-second-order kinetic model and the Freundlich isotherm equation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]