Ren-lab
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Clean lab Facilities
The clean laboratory is equippet with Class 1000 (ISO 6) air filtered room containing
- extraction hood for our closed system acid distillations (separate PicoTrace CUPOLA stills for HF, HNO3 and HCl)
- air extraction hoods with vapour washers for the evaporation of HF and HCLO4
- large class 100 laminar flow hoods for the chemical purification of target elements.
Standard clean laboratory equipment for chemical handling of samples consists of PicoTrace safety hot plates and time-temperature controllers, an acid sample digestion system and a Milestone Ethis 1 Microwave Digestion System, a high-purity 18.2 Ohm water preparation system, ultrasonic baths, a high-precision balance and centrifuges, etc.
Clean lab techniques
We mainly use standard ion exchange techniques to purify various target elements from sample matrices. The ion chromatographic separations are performed in hand-made Teflon columns of various sizes. Placing the columns in our in-house built carousels simplifies the handling and allows the simultaneous separation of up to 24 samples.
The ion exchange techniques presently used at the BGF include:
- Rb-Sr-REE separation using standard cation exchange chromatography (DOWEX AG-50)
- Sm-Nd purification with Eichrom Ln-resin
- Rb-Sr separation from carbonates using Eichrom Sr-Spec resin
- U and Pb separation with standard anion exchange (DOWEX AG-1x8) and Eichrom Sr-Spec resins
- Cu, Fe, Zn separation on a single column filled with AG MP-1 anion resin
- Cr purification with anion resin (DOWEX AG-1x8) and liquid-liquid extraction
- Pa separation on anion exchange resin
- Li chromatographic purification on cation exchange resin
