Hydrogen gas getters: Susceptibility to poisoning
- Los Alamos National Lab., NM (United States)
- Benchmark Environmental Inc. (United States)
About 40% ({approximately}9,000) of the {approximately}23,000 transuranic (TRU) waste drums at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are presently unshippable because conservative calculations suggest that the hydrogen concentration may exceed the lower explosive limit for hydrogen. This situation extends across nearly all DOE sites holding and generating TRU waste. The incorporation of a hydrogen getter such as DEB into the waste drums (or the TRUPACT II shipping containers) could substantially mitigate the explosion risk. The result would be to increase the number of drums that qualify for transportation to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) without having to resort to expensive re-packaging or waste treatment technologies. However, before this approach can be implemented, key technical questions must be answered. Foremost among these is the question of whether the presence of other chemical vapors and gases in the drum might poison the catalytic reaction between hydrogen and DEB. This is the final report of a one-year, Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) project at the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). The objective of this project was to obtain fundamental information on the chemical mechanism of the catalytic reaction of hydrogen with one commonly used hydrogen getter, DEB. Experiments with these materials showed that the method of exposure affects the nature of the reaction products. The results of this work contributed to the development of a mechanistic model of the reaction.
- Research Organization:
- Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Assistant Secretary for Human Resources and Administration, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-36
- OSTI ID:
- 334310
- Report Number(s):
- LA-UR-98-3273; ON: DE99002237; TRN: 99:004993
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: [1998]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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