Radiochemistry and Ion Exchange Chromatography Unit Prof Nico van der Walt Collaboration with the Institute of Chemistry Timisoara of the Romanian Academy, Timisoara, Romania The collaboration mentioned in the 2013 Research Report continued in 2014. There was a new call by the NRF for joint research projects between South Africa and Romania. The Institute of Chemistry Timisoara and the Radiochemistry and Ion Exchange Chromatography Unit applied for funding, but the results are still outstanding because of an election in Romania in November 2014.
Research activities The following postgraduates completed their research projects and are now writing their theses: • RA Wells: Comparison of distribution coefficients of 14 elements on three cation exchangers • N Sephuhle: The determination of distribution coefficients for some elements on the macroporous cation exchanger Amberlyst 15 in nitric acid-methanol solutions
vanderwaltt@cput.ac.za •
NG Tasana: Evaluation and optimisation of boron analysis methodologies in nuclear reactor primary water systems • G Visser: Analysing for Sr-90 in environmental samples making use of liquid scintillation counting • EO Omoniyi: Comparative study of brine treatment using a functionalised nanofibre and an ion exchange resin Three BTech students completed research projects under supervision of Prof Van der Walt. The topics were: Behaviour of Cu and Mn on dithizone resin; Behaviour of Zr and Y on AG 50W-X4 in 2.5 M HBr and in 2.5 M HCl; and Separation of Cd, Zn and Fe on AG MP-50Separation of ten elements in sequence from each other on a single cation exchange resin column.
FACULTY OF APPLIED SCIENCES
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