Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Removal of organic material from recycle nitric acid by ozone

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/6292499· OSTI ID:6292499
Organic compounds can be removed from recycle nitric acid (e.g., 2.5 to 10 M HNO/sub 3/) by ozonation. In the absence of catalysts the removal of acetic acid, one of the most resistant of the aliphatic species, was found to be slower than its removal from distilled water under similar conditions. At 95/sup 0/C, about 8 h was required to reduce the carbon content of a 10 M HNO/sub 3/ solution from 100 to 10 ..mu..g/m1 in the absence of catalysts. However, the same reduction was accomplished in only about 1 h when silver ion was added at a concentration of 50 mg/liter. Silver ion (Ag/sup +/) is the nmost effective of the catalysts tested for removal of acetic acid from 2.5 to 10 M HNO/sub 3/ by ozonation. Other, less efficient, catalysts include Pd/sup 2 +/, Mn/sup 2 +/, Fe/sup 3 +/, and silica gel. The initial stages of the reaction in nitric acid appear to be first order with respect to the acetic acid conentration when no catalyst is present. Average rate constants are 1.75 x 10/sup -5/ s/sup -1/ at 75/sup 0/C, 4.50 x 10/sup -5/ s/sup -1/ at 85/sup 0/C, and 1.02 x 10/sup -4/ s at 95/sup 0/C. The pseudo activaion energy calculated from an Arrhenius plot of these data is about 27 kcal/mole.
Research Organization:
Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
W-7405-ENG-26
OSTI ID:
6292499
Report Number(s):
ORNL/TM-6672
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English