Study of the Possibility of Rhenium Extraction and Preconcentration from Plants

Abstract:- Investigation was carried out on leaves of green geranium (Pelargonium) grown on soil spiked with perrhenate and containing a known amount of bioaccumulated rhenium. Two ways of rhenium extraction and preconcentration from green leaves of geranium were studied: i) direct incineration of the raw leaves and alkaline leaching of rhenium from the ash; ii) ethanol extraction of rhenium from raw leaves followed by evaporation of ethanol, ashing of dry residue and alkaline extraction of rhenium from the ash. It was found possible to concentrate rhenium 24 444 times (as compared to its initial concentration in soils) using ethanol extraction from green plant mass in the remaining ash. A better (in comparison with the case of direct incineration of raw leaves) preliminarily purification of the leaching alkaline solutions from major ash cations (K, Ca, and Mg) was achieved by ethanol extraction of rhenium. The investigation revealed that it was possible to develop a cheap and environmentally friendly biotechnology for rhenium recovery from soils and waters using plants