skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Liquid-phase compositions from vapor-phase analyses

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/5695240· OSTI ID:5695240

In the safe handling and processing of uranium hexafluoride (UF{sub 6}), it is often desirable to calculate vapor composition and pressure from known liquid composition and temperature. Furthermore, the ability to use analyses of equilibrium vapor-phase samples to calculate liquid-phase compositions would be economically advantageous to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in its international safeguards program and to uranium enrichment operators. The latter technique is projected to save the IAEA on the order of $1500 or more per sample. Either type of calculation could be performed with a multicomponent vapor-liquid equilibrium (VLE) model if this model were shown to apply to UF{sub 6} and its common impurities. This report is concerned with the distribution of four potential impurities in UF{sub 6} between liquid and vapor phases. The impurities are carbon dioxide, sulfur hexafluoride, chloryl fluoride, and Freon-114 (CClF{sub 2}CClF{sub 2}). There are no binary equilibrium data on the first three of these impurities; hence, the VLE calculations are based entirely on the thermodynamic properties of the pure components. There are two sets of binary equilibrium data for the system Freon-114-UF{sub 6} that are analyzed in terms of the model of Prausnitz et al. Calculations based on these data are compared with those based solely on the thermodynamic properties of pure Freon-114 and pure UF{sub 6}. 23 refs., 3 figs., 5 tabs.

Research Organization:
Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion Plant, TN (USA). International Technology Programs Div.
Sponsoring Organization:
DOE/DP
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-84OT21400
OSTI ID:
5695240
Report Number(s):
K/ITP-181; ON: DE90001012
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English