Separation of Molybdenum Isotopes at Supercritical Fluid Extraction with Carbon Dioxide in a Vertical Gradient Field of Temperatures

Abstract

Separation of molybdenum isotope complexes by supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) with carbon dioxide was studied experimentally. The extraction of molybdenum isotope complexes was carried out in the updated extraction chamber (reactor) of the SFE-U installation, which provided an initial pressure of P ≤ 20 MPa at constant temperatures of the upper T1 = 35°C and bottom T2 = 45°C flanges. The device, through which the eluent was discharged, involved a set of four thin tubes of different lengths located inside the reactor. The axes of the tubes and the reactor are parallel and the tubes are equally spaced circumferentially inside the reactor. The extract was removed from each tube through channels isolated from each other and located in the bottom flange with cylindrical expansion, in which several layers of filter paper were placed. After passing through the filters the extract entered a restrictor designed to remove the eluent from the reactor. The initial pressure of carbon dioxide and the holding time of the extract were specified in the experiments. The level of the eluent sampling was set by the lengths of the tubes depending on the reactor height. A method of producing molybdenum complexes was described. It was experimentally shown that at an initial pressure of 20 MPa and a given holding time a difference from the natural content of Mo isotopes for given heights of extract sampling depending on the reactor height was observed in extracts removed through filters. The ranges of deviation of the content of molybdenum isotopes in extracts from natural one were determined.