Room-temperature reactor packed with hydrophobic catalysts for the oxidation of hydrogen isotopes released in a nuclear facility

Abstract

A room-temperature reactor packed with hydrophobic catalysts for the oxidation of hydrogen isotopes released in a nuclear facility will contribute to nuclear safety. The inorganic-based hydrophobic Pt catalyst named H1P has been developed especially for efficient oxidation over a wide concentration range of hydrogen isotopes at room temperature, even in the presence of saturated water vapor. The overall reaction rate constant for hydrogen oxidation with the H1P catalyst in a flow-through system using a tritium tracer was determined as a function of space velocity, hydrogen concentration in carriers, temperature of the catalyst, and water vapor concentration in carriers. The overall reaction rate constant for the H1P catalyst in the range near room temperature was considerably larger than that for the traditionally applied Pt/Al 2O3 catalyst. Moreover, the decrease in reaction rate for H1P in the presence of saturated water vapor was slight compared with the reaction rate in the absence of water vapor due to the excellent hydrophobic performance of H1P. Oxidation reaction on the catalyst surface is the rate-controlling step in the range near room temperature and the rate-controlling step is shifted to diffusion in a catalyst substratum above 313K due to its fine porosity. The overall reaction rate constant in the range near room temperature was dependent on the space velocity and hydrogen concentration in carriers. The overall reaction rate constants in the range of 1;000=T greater than 3.2 correlated to koverall[s-1=]5:59 × 107 × SV[h-1] × exp (67:7 [kJ/mol]/ R gT) where the space velocity range was from 600 to 7,200 h -1.© 2011 Atomic Energy Society of Japan, All Rights Reserved.