Purex diluent degradation

Technical Report · Wed Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1984

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5288701· OSTI ID:5288701

Tallent, O K; Mailen, J C; Pannell, K D

The chemical degradation of normal paraffin hydrocarbon (NPH) diluents both in the pure state and mixed with 30% tributyl phosphate (TBP) was investigated in a series of experiments. The results show that degradation of NPH in the TBP-NPH-HNO/sub 3/ system is consistent with the active chemical agent being a radical-like nitrogen dioxide (NO/sub 2/) molecule, not HNO/sub 3/ as such. Spectrophotometric, gas chromatographic, mass spectrographic, and titrimetric methods were used to identify the degradation products, which included alkane nitro and nitrate compounds, alcohols, unsaturated alcohols, nitro alcohols, nitro alkenes, ketones, and carboxylic acids. The degradation rate was found to increase with increases in the HNO/sub 3/ concentration and the temperature. The rate was decreased by argon sparging to remove NO/sub 2/ and by the addition of butanol, which probably acts as a NO/sub 2/ scavenger. 13 references, 11 figures.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 5288701
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-8814; ON: DE84007928
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

050800* -- Nuclear Fuels-- Spent Fuels Reprocessing
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
ALKANES
BUTYL PHOSPHATES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
DATA
DECOMPOSITION
ESTERS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
INORGANIC ACIDS
NITRIC ACID
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC PHOSPHORUS COMPOUNDS
ORGANIC SOLVENTS
PHOSPHORIC ACID ESTERS
PUREX PROCESS
REPROCESSING
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SOLVENTS
TBP