The aim of this study was to determine the adsorption behaviour of various micronutrient elements e.g., Cu-61, Zn-62,Zn-63, Ga-66,Ga-67,Ga-68, Ge-66,Ge-67,Ge-69, As-71,As-72 present in no-carrier-added state, with calcium alginate (CA) using 'tracer packet' technique. High Ge and Ga and moderate Cu removal were achieved at pH 7 and pH 5, respectively. Results on the studies to recover all the three radionuclides from the calcium alginate beads using desorbing reagents, HCl, thiourea, ammonium oxalate and sodium nitrite showed that 0.1 M HCl and 0.1 M ammonium oxalate removed Cu and Ge moderately. The amount of Ga desorbed by all the washing liquids was almost negligible, except sodium nitrite. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.