Centrifugal separation for miscible solutions: Fundamentals and applications to separation of molten salt nuclear material
- Los Alamos National Laboratory, NM (United States); and others
The authors report on the physical separation of dilute solutions using centrifugal techniques. They use numerical simulations of the diffusion and sedimentation dynamics of centrifugation to model the approach to an equilibrium concentration profile. They verify experimentally the equilibrium profiles for aqueous solutions of different salts under rotation at 25000 rpm corresponding to centrifugal accelerations of about 57,000 g and 75,000 g in two different commercial centrifuges. These measurements provide ratios of sedimentation and diffusion coefficients. The authors show experimental results for the dynamics of separation that confirm the predictions of the theoretical model. They also measure the mass diffusion coefficient for several solutions. Although the relaxation to equilibrium is long, they have determined a method for efficiently extracting enriched components from a ternary mixture based on fast dynamics at early times. These dynamics are modeled in numerical simulations with realistic fluid parameters. Based on these studies the authors show that a multistage centrifugal separation process could provide efficient physical separation of actinides and fission products from a molten-salt solution in proposed transmutation/energy-production systems. The authors consider technical issues in the design of such a separation system.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 106938
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-95-1792; CONF-9407103-; ON: DE95014018; TRN: 95:006680-0075
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: International conference on accelerator-driven transmutation technologies and applications, Las Vegas, NV (United States), 25 Jul - 1 Aug 1994; Other Information: PBD: [1995]; Related Information: Is Part Of AIP conference on accelerator driven transmutation technologies and applications, Las Vegas, Nevada, July 25-29, 1994; Schriber, S.O.; Arthur, E.; Rodriguez, A.A.; PB: 958 p.
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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