Patent Number: 
Section: claims

1. A method of separating osmium from iridium comprising:receiving a powdered mixture of osmium and iridium;oxidizing the osmium of the powdered mixture;separating the oxidized osmium into different isotopes of osmium, including osmium 191;capturing the oxidized osmium 191 a trapping solution;reducing the oxidized osmium 191 solution to release the osmium 191. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the oxidizing comprises placing the powdered mixture in a solution and heating the solution to transfer the oxidized osmium to gaseous form. 3. The method according claim 1, wherein the trapping solution is heated to about 110° C. 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the osmium is oxidized using chromium trioxide (CrO3) in a sulfuric acid solution. 5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the osmium in the powder is oxidized by the following equation:3Os +4H2Cr2O7+12H2SO4→3OsO4↑+4 Cr2(SO4)3+16H2O. 6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the osmium is oxidized using a potassium permanganate (KMnO4) in a sulfuric acid solution. 7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the osmium in the powder is oxidized by the following equation:8KMnO4+12H2SO4+5Os =5OsO4+8MnSO4=4K2SO4+12H2O. 8. The method according to claim 7. wherein the method includes a side reaction having the following equation:4KMnO4+2 H2SO4=4MnO2+2 K2SO4+3 O2+2H2O. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the oxidized osmium is agitated by air or N2 passing through a system for performing the method. 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the oxidized osmium 191 is trapped in a KOH solution in one or more capturing stages. 11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the oxidized osmium 191 of the powdered mixture is trapped in the KOH solution forming a complex according the to following formula:OsO4+2KOH →K2 [OsO4 (OH)2]. 12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the KOH solution has between 10% to 25% KOH w/v. 13. The method according to claim 10, wherein a sodium hydrosulfide solution is added to the KOH solution to precipitate the osmium as osmium disulfide (OsS2). 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the osmium is precipitated according to the following equations:NaHS +2KOH (Excess) →K2S +H2O +NaOH2K2[OsO4 (OH)2]+5K2S +4H2O→2OsS2↓+12KOH +K2SO4. 15. The method according to claim 1, wherein said separating is performed by laser isotope separation. 16. The method according to claim 1, wherein said separating is performed by electromagnetic isotope separation. 17. The method according to claim 1, wherein said separating is performed by diffusion isotope separation. 18. The method according to claim 1, wherein said separating is performed by SILEX isotope separation. 19. The method according to claim 1, wherein said separating is performed by centrifugal isotope separation.