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Sampling and Pretreatment of Tooth Enamel Carbonate for Stable Carbon and Oxygen Isotope Analysis
Published on: August 15, 2018
Industrial separation of oxygen isotopes by oxygen distillation
Takehiro Igarashi1, Takashi Kambe1, Hitoshi Kihara1
1Research & Development Division, Taiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation, Tsukuba, Japan.
Abstract:
18 O-labeled water (Water-18 O) is a widely used starting material of 18 F-labeled diagnostic agents in positron emission tomography (PET). Conventionally, Water-18 O has been separated from other stable oxygen isotope species (16 O, 17 O) by water distillation or nitric oxide distillation. However, conventional methods are costly and may have safety issues. In 2004, we developed the first unit of our novel oxygen isotope separation process by cryogenic oxygen distillation to overcome these issues. To meet the needs of the market, we built a second unit in 2013 and a third in 2016. We are now operating three commercially viable separation units with a total capacity of 600 kg of Water-18 O per year.
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