The photo shows a part of the oxygen-18 enrichment production plant built recently by Klydon.

In the natural environment there are three oxygen isotopes. In the atmosphere their respective abundance is as follows: 16-O (99.76%), 17-O (0,04%) and 18-O (0.205%). All of these isotopes have applications in agronomy, marine biology, environmental science, biochemical research et al and also in medical diagnostics and therapy.

The medical applications of these isotopes have become attractive to Klydon and for this reason the oxygen-18 enrichment plant was built. At the moment the focus is on providing highly enriched 18-O isotopic water. The 18-O isotopic water (concentration 95-plus percentage) is a precursor for the production of flourodeoxyglugose (FDG) used in PET scans.
In the radiopharmaceutical industry enriched water (H₂¹⁸O) is irradiated with protons in a cyclotron and recovered as ¹⁸F-sodium fluoride by passing the irradiated water mixture through a carbonate type anion exchange resin column. The ¹⁸F^- is retained on the column and eluded with potassium carbonate solution. The ¹⁸F-sodium fluoride is used for the synthesis of ¹⁸F-fluorodeoxyglucose and other PET radiopharmaceuticals. The FDG is the source of positrons and has a half-life of 109.8 minutes. It is injected into a patient for medicinal imaging.

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