Combined Electrolysis And Catalytic Exchange Research Articles

Operating experience of the experimental industrial plant for reprocessing of tritiated water wastes

The results of 5-year operation of the experimental industrial plant for hydrogen isotope separation using combined electrolysis and catalytic exchange (CECE) process are presented. The plant is used for large-scale studies of CECE process and for reprocessing tritiated heavy water wastes. The main parts of the plant are a 100-mm diameter exchange column of 6.9 m overall height, alkaline electrolytic cells and catalytic burners. The separation performance of the column was determined. The computer code makes it possible to carry out the calculation over a wide range of conditions and to forecast a concentration profile within the column when the values of flow rates are changed. The experience gained during the plant operation shows a high efficiency of isotope separation by CECE process and allows regarding CECE process as a considerable promise for the industrial use, in particular, for water purification from tritium.

Choice of A Process Design for Simultaneous Detritiation and Upgrading of Heavy water for the Advanced Neutron Source

Tritium removal and heavy water upgrading are essential components of the heavy water-moderated reactor that is the heart of the Advanced Neutron Source (ANS) to be built at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. The technologies for these two processes, which are closely related, are reviewed in the context of the ANS requirements. The evolution of the design of the Heavy Water Upgrading and Detritiation Facility (HWUDF) for ANS is outlined, and the final conceptual design is presented. The conceptual design of HWUDF has two main component systems: (a) a front-end combined electrolysis and catalytic exchange (CECE) system and (b) a back-end cryogenic distillation (CD) system. The CECE process consists of a countercurrent exchange column for hydrogen-water exchange over a wetproofed catalyst and electrolysis to convert water into hydrogen. It accepts all the tritiated heavy water streams of the reactor and performs an almost total separation into a protium (light hydrogen) stream containing tritium and deuterium at only natural abundance and a deuterium stream containing all the tritium and almost no protium. The tritium-containing deuterium stream is then processed by a CD unit, which removes over 90% of the tritium and concentrates it to >99% tritium for indefinite storage as a metalmore » tritide. Deuterium gas with a small residue of tritium is recombined with oxygen from the electrolytic cells and returned as heavy water to the reactor.« less