Ammonia Distillation for Deuterium Separation

Technical Report · Mon May 16 00:00:00 EDT 1960

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/4163124· OSTI ID:4163124

Petersen, Gerald Thornton ^[1]; Benedict, Mason ^[1]

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1. Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)

The relative volatility or separation factor for deuterium enrichment in ammonia distillation was measured at several pressures and deuterium concentrations. The knowledge of this information is very helpful in predicting costs of heavy water production by the ammonia distillation process. It has been stated by others, that the ammonia distillation process of heavy water production would be competitive with other developed methods only if the actual separation factor was at least 1.062 at low deuterium concentration. Unfortunately, the measurements do not indicate that the separation factor at low deuterium composition differs greatly from the vapor pressure pre diction ( alpha = 1.042). Deutero-ammonia was synthesized by isotopic exchange between natural ammonia and heavy water. Equilibrium determinations were made using an Othmer still, modified for low temperature operation, and a concentric tube fractionating column. The ammonia samples were analyzed for deuterium content by converting them to water by flow thorough hot copper oxide, followed by a differential density determination using the falling drop method.

• Research Organization: Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: US Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)
• NSA Number: NSA-14-016931
• OSTI ID: 4163124
• Report Number(s): NYO--2347
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY
AMMONIA
CONVERSION
COPPER OXIDES
DEUTERIUM
DEUTERIUM COMPOUNDS
DISTILLATION
ECONOMICS
ENRICHMENT
HEAVY WATER
ISOTOPE SEPARATION
ISOTOPIC EXCHANGE
MEASURED VALUES
PREPARATION
PRESSURE
PRODUCTION
REACTION KINETICS
VOLATILITY
WATER