Investigating the effect of reflux stream on HETP of conventional packings in oxygen-18 production via distillation

Due to the increasing need for Oxygen-18 isotope in medical centers to produce 18F radioisotopes used in positron emission tomography (PET) centers, research is today more necessary than ever to improve and increase the production efficiency of this isotope. The concentration of oxygen-18 in water is 5.4% in this study, in a pilot distillation tower and in a total reflux state, two packings of coated Dixon and coated Sulzer have been tested in different return flows. The results showed that the pattern of Height Equivalent to a Theoretical Plate (HETP) variations for these two packings, which are irregular and regular packings, respectively, were significantly different from each other and of course, the amount of HETP obtained for coated Sulzer is less than coated Dixon. Accordingly, using coated packing Sulzer requires fewer equilibrium steps to achieve 99% purity of oxygen-18 isotope.