Separation of radioactive krypton from carbon dioxide and oxygen with molecular sieves

Technical Report · Sat Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 1977

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/7211260· OSTI ID:7211260

Forsberg, C. W.

In the reprocessing of HTGR nuclear fuels, the off-gas cleanup system generates a stream containing about 1 percent krypton, 90+ percent CO/sub 2/, and various amounts of O/sub 2/, N/sub 2/, and xenon. The krypton is radioactive and must be separated from the CO/sub 2/ before it is bottled or zeolite-encapsulated for final disposal. A series of theoretical and experimental investigations to find the best method for separating CO/sub 2/ and krypton under the required conditions showed that 5A molecular sieves near O/sup 0/C and 1.01 x 10/sup 5/ Pa (1 atm) provided the most effective separation. Molecular sieves are powerful solid adsorbents for CO/sub 2/ but weak adsorbents for krypton. For a typical expected CO/sub 2/-O/sub 2/-krytpon gas mixture, a molecular sieve bed adsorbs the CO/sub 2/, allows the O/sub 2/ to pass freely through the bed, and concentrates the krypton before it exits the bed. The process selected and investigated is called frontal analysis gas chromatography.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-26
• OSTI ID: 7211260
• Report Number(s): ORNL/TM-5826; TRN: 78-000040
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

12 MANAGEMENT OF RADIOACTIVE AND NON-RADIOACTIVE WASTES FROM NUCLEAR FACILITIES
11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS
FUEL REPROCESSING PLANTS
OFF-GAS SYSTEMS
KRYPTON
GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY
RADIOACTIVE WASTE PROCESSING
GASEOUS WASTES
ADSORPTION
CARBON DIOXIDE
MOLECULAR SIEVES
OXYGEN
ADSORBENTS
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHROMATOGRAPHY
CRYOGENIC FLUIDS
ELEMENTS
FLUIDS
MANAGEMENT
NONMETALS
NUCLEAR FACILITIES
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PROCESSING
RARE GASES
SEPARATION PROCESSES
SORPTION
WASTE MANAGEMENT
WASTE PROCESSING
WASTES
052001* - Nuclear Fuels- Waste Processing
050800 - Nuclear Fuels- Spent Fuels Reprocessing