CATALYZED HYDROLYSIS OF PYROPHOSPHATE BY THORIUM OXIDE

Technical Report · Tue Mar 01 04:00:00 EST 1960

OSTI ID:4175453

Boyd, C M; House, H P; Menis, O

Thorium oxide in aqueous slurries catalyzes the hydrolysis of Na/sub 4/P/ sub 2/O/sub 7/ to the orthophosphate. In the initial stages of the hydrolysis, the rate is propertioral to the ThO/sub 2/ concentration, but this effect rapidly diminishes with time, probably due to the inhibiting effect of orthophosphate adsorbed on the catalyst. The time required for a definite fraction of complete reaction to occur is relatively independent of the initial concentration of Na/ sub 4/P/sub 2/O/sub 7/, thus indicating that the hydrolysis is of the first order with respect to pyrophosphate. Over the range of temperature of 25 to 100 deg C, the rate of hydrolysis increases approximately 3fold for each l0 deg increase in temperature. An activation energy of 20 kcal per mole was calculated for this reaction. (auth)

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., Tenn.
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• NSA Number: NSA-14-009369
• OSTI ID: 4175453
• Report Number(s): ORNL-2893
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ADSORPTION
CATALYSIS
CHEMISTRY
DECOMPOSITION
PHOSPHATES
REACTION KINETICS
SLURRIES
TEMPERATURE
THORIUM OXIDES
WATER