Synthesis, characterization and application of Au-198 nanoparticles as radiotracer for industrial applications.

ABSTRACT

This paper describes synthesis and characterization of radioactive gold nanoparticles ((198)Au-NPs), and explores their utility as a radiotracer for tracing an aqueous phase in a continuous laboratory-scale bubble column at ambient conditions. The performance of the (198)Au-NPs as a radiotracer was compared with the results obtained with a conventional radiotracer i.e. bromine-82 ((82)Br) as ammonium bromide and found to be identical. A tank-in-series with backmixing model (TISBM) was used to simulate the RTDs of the aqueous phase and characterize flow in the bubble column.