Effective separation method of (64)Cu from (67)Ga waste product with a solvent extraction and chromatography.

A simple chemical process with a solvent extraction was investigated as an effective separation method for (64)Cu radionuclide from waste production, which is collected as solution after extracting (67)Ga and recovering (68)Zn target materials. For the production of radionuclide (67)Ga, the enriched (68)Zn material electroplated on Cu backing plate is usually exposed to energetic protons. The protons produce (67)Ga including other radionuclides, such as (57)Ni, (57,55)Co, (64,67)Cu by several nuclear reactions. After extracting (67)Ga and recovering (68)Zn through several steps of chemical processes, the residual solution is usually discarded even though it contains other species of radioisotopes. In this study, a simple chemical process having a high separation efficiency of (64)Cu from the waste solution was investigated. With this method, a promising radiotracer as a diagnostic in PET and a therapeutic in radio-immunotherapy, (64)Cu was estimated to be produced as high as 1,200mCi at EOB within 3h chemical processing after extraction of (67)Ga and (68)Zn.