Analysis of radionuclides in microsystem: application to the selective recovery of 55Fe by solvent extraction

The minimization of the sample quantities required by analytical laboratories, as well as the increase of the fastness of the analytical operations are emerging axes for improved radiochemical analyses related to D&D issues. Two microsystem-based protocols were developed for the selective recovery of Fe-55 from radioactive samples by solvent extraction. Both protocols were tested on iron solutions in two different microchips. The yields of Fe extraction were compared with macroscale batch experiments. Better performances with more than 80% of iron extracted were obtained with the second protocol, which is based on a reactive transfer of the iron cation, and more suited to the use of microchannels and very low contact times. This study already demonstrate the high potential of microfluidic technology to improve analytical operations on D&D samples. This method will further be validated with radioactive samples.