Radioactivity measurement in aqueous glycerol-based DES for potential broiler chicken diet and additive

Abstract: Radionuclides contamination of food and feedstock is a substantial food safety concern for both human and animal consumption. The presence of radionuclides in common animal origins such as poultry and chicken feed, may result in significant health risks when ingested by humans. Therefore, the control of such harmful substances is important in ensuring human health management, animal welfare and environmental monitoring. Deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are emerging classes of green solvents that present multitude of potential uses in chemical processing industries, environmental remediation and fuel cell technologies. However, radiochemical studies on DESs are relatively scarce and can provide greater insights to its further applications and its intrinsic properties. The present study investigates the physical properties and radionuclide activity of a series of aqueous glycerol DESs produced from common broiler chicken feed ingredients (choline chloride, ChCl, and glycerol). DESs were prepared at different molar ratios by mixing with aqueous glycerol, and the physical properties (density, conductivity, viscosity, surface tension) in room temperature were measured. In the radiochemical analysis, the radioactivity concentrations of primordial radionuclides (²²⁶Ra(²³⁸U), ²²⁸Ra(²³²Th), and ⁴⁰K) in the DES samples were determined using a hyper pure germanium (HPGe) γ-ray spectrometry detector (ORTEC; GEM-25). Among the studied samples, the individual component of DESs were found to exhibit the highest radioactivity concentration of ²²⁸U, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K at 58.03, 100.1, and 201.9 mBq kg^-1, respectively. The DES produced from the combination of ChCl and glycerol yielded significant results on reduced radioactivity by two fold across all primordial radionuclides. Furthermore, when the glycerol molar ratio was increased, the radioactivity concentration of ²²⁸U, ²³²Th, and ⁴⁰K were further reduced to 12.92, 27.72, and 89.08 mBq kg^-1, respectively. It can conclude that DES formation was observed to reduce radionuclide activity when compared to its individual components. The use of DESs may be beneficial as broiler chicken feed substitutes that may contribute to radionuclide remediation in chicken feed.