Use of carbon-14 to measure carbon dioxide removal in a synthetic ammonia plant

Abstract

Use of the total-sample method was extended to measurement of the leakage of carbon dioxide through an oil-filled knockout trap in a large synthetic ammonia plant. Approximately 1 mc of C 14O 2 was injected into the plant, and gas samples were withdrawn from points ahead of and beyond the trap. The C 14O 2 was recovered from the samples and counted in a liquid scintillation counter. The high sensitivity of the method is illustrated by the detection of approximately 1 μc of C 14 in a gas stream flowing at over 6 × 10 6 standard ft 3/hr. The trap was shown to be 99.9 percent efficient in CO 2 removal.