RU2069165C1 - Device for separation of isotopes - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: devices for separation of isotopes. SUBSTANCE: sectionalized column for counterflow separation of isotopes with phase flow reversal units made in form of contact sections located in series, reagent inlet and outlet pipe lines, common shutoff distributing unit which consists of three cylindrical plates located coaxially one above another; central plate is rotatable about axis. Provided in body of shut-off distributing unit are through passages for communication of inner surface of upper plate with pipe lines, inner surface of lower plate with contact sections and inner surfaces of center plates between each other. Provided additionally on inner surface of upper plate are concentric circular bores. Passages provided in body of above-mentioned plate are used for communication of pipe lines with concentric circular bores. Number of through passages in central plate is equal to number of concentric circular bores and its lower surface is additionally provided with chord bores for communication of outlet of previous contact section with inlet of next ones, $$$, where X is number of chord bores, Y is number of contact sections and N is number of contact sections in phase flow reversal zones. Chord bores may be made in body of central plates and may be brought in communication with its surface by means of additional passages. EFFECT: enhanced efficiency. 4 cl, 5 dwg, 4 ap

Description

 The invention relates to the field of devices for the separation of substances, in particular, to devices for the separation of isotopes.

 A known installation for isotope separation, including a sectioned column, a heater, pipelines connecting an authorized column and a valve for introducing a shared mixture (see USSR Author's Certificate N 540535, class 01 D 59/00, 1976, is not published).

 The disadvantage of the installation is that the relative countercurrent of the phases involved in the separation process is achieved by periodically moving the heater along the sectioned column manually.

 A device for separating an isotope is also known, including a sectioned column, a heater, pipelines connecting a sectioned column and a mixture inlet valve, in which each contact section is equipped with two shut-off valves and grinding connectors for connecting the contact sections to each other (see Journal of Physical Chemistry, 1982, T. 56, No.2, p. 349 352) prototype.

 The main disadvantage of this device is the insufficiently high degree of separation and performance (product selection is carried out periodically once for several complete cycles after the absorber is completely filled with product).

 The task underlying the invention is the creation of apparatus for the separation of isotopes, which allows for a high degree of separation, high productivity, as well as compact equipment.

 The problem is solved by a device for the separation of isotopes, including a partitioned column with nodes for reversing the flow of phases, made in the form of successively arranged contact sections filled with solid material, and pipelines for input and output of reagents. The contact sections are additionally equipped with a single locking and distributing unit, including three cylindrical plates located coaxially one above the other, the central of which is mounted for rotation about an axis, and through channels are made in the body of the said locking and distributing unit to communicate the inner surface of the external plate with pipelines, the inner surface of the lower plate with contact sections and the inner surfaces of the Central plate between them.

 Through channels in the upper plate connect the pipelines of input and output of reagents with ring concentric grooves made on the inner surface of the plate.

 The number of channels in the central plate is equal to the number of concentric annular grooves and the channels are intended for communication of the concentric annular grooves in the upper fixed plate with the inputs and outputs of the contact sections through the through channels in the stationary lower section.

 Running grooves are made on the bottom surface of the central plate to communicate the entry and exit of adjacent contact sections and the number of indicated grooves is determined from the condition X ≅ Y N 1, where X is the number of chordal grooves, Y is the number of contact sections, N is the number of contact sections in the zones of phase flow reversal.

 The chordal grooves in the central plate can be made in the body of the central plate and communicated with its surface with additional channels.

 The advantage of the invention is the provision of a high degree of separation and high performance with a compact device for the separation of isotopes and the possibility of its operation in automatic mode.

 A design feature of the claimed devices is the presence of a single locking and distribution unit for all contact sections, which allows separation to be carried out continuously and automatically.

 Isotope separation devices are compact, have low energy consumption and a long resource of continuous operation. The device can be created on the basis of individual blocks and allows you to stop, interrupt and restart the process of separation without the use of additional equipment.

 The possibility of implementing the invention is confirmed by the following specific options for its use.

 Example 1

 In FIG. 1 5 presents a general view of the installation, possible options for the location of grooves on the surface of the upper and central plates, as well as a diagram of the device to explain the principle of its operation.

 In FIG. 1 shows a general view of the device. It consists of a locking and distribution unit having fixed upper 1 and lower 2 plates in which the channels are made. In the upper plate, the channels 3 are connected by gas inlet and outlet pipes 4 to the inner surface of the plate. In the lower plate, channels 5 connect the inputs and outputs of the contact sections 6 rigidly connected to it with the inner surface of the plates.

 On the inner surface of the upper plate, annular concentric grooves 8 are made, connected through channels 9 to the gas inlet and outlet pipelines. The arrangement of the annular grooves is shown in FIG. 2.

 The arrangement of the channels in the bottom plate is shown in FIG. 3.

 The location of the chordal grooves on the lower surface of the central plate is shown in FIG. 4.

The movement of the heating element 11 and the cooling element (bath) 12 with thermostatic fluid relative to the stationary contact sections 6 occurs by rotating the platform 13 with the heating and cooling elements installed on it by an angle equal to 360 ^o / Y. Before starting the rotation, the platform 13 lowers, and after the completion of the rotation rises. Thus, the heating element and the cooling element sequentially pass through all sections of the column.

 The installation diagram is shown in FIG. 5. The feed gas mixture from the cylinder 14 through the pipe 15 is fed to the upper plate and through one of the channels 3 (Fig. 1) enters the annular groove 9 of the supply gas (pos. 8, Fig. 1, 2). From the annular groove through the channel 16 in the central plate (Fig. 1), the supply gas enters the channel 17 (Fig. 1), which connects the inner surface of the lower plate with the input of the contact section 18 (pos. 18a, section 18 and through the groove 9 (Fig. 1). 1.4) connecting the output of section 18 (pos. 18b, Fig. 3) with the input 19a of section 19. Sections 18, 19 are in the separation zone, and sections 20 and 21 are in the sorption and desorption zones, respectively (Fig. 5) The gas leaving the separation zone, through channels 5 in the lower and 9 central plates, enters the annular groove 22 (Fig. 2), intended for collection gas leaving the separation zone. From the annular groove 22 through one of the channels 3 in the upper plate, gas enters the pipe 23 (Fig. 5) connecting the separation zone to the sorption zone. From the pipe 23, gas enters one of the channels 3 in the upper plate in the annular groove 24 (Fig. 2) in the upper plate, designed to collect gas going into the sorption zone. From the groove 24 through one of the channels in the Central plate and the channel in the lower plate, the gas enters the inlet 20a of section 20 (Fig. 3) located in the sorption zone and absorbed by the sorbent in the section. Section 21, located in the desorption zone, is heated and the gas with which the sorbent is saturated in the section is released from the sorbent. The gas released through the outlet 21b of section 21, the channel in the lower platinum, the channel in the central plate enters the annular groove 25 (Fig. 2), designed to collect the gas released in the desorption zone, and from it through one of the channels 3 in the upper plate comes into pipeline 26 (Fig. 5) for removing gas from the desorption zone.

The feed gas stream is supplied from the cylinder 14 to the separation zone, part of the gas from the separation zone is discharged in the form of one of the products through the pipeline 27 (Fig. 5), and gas is discharged from the desorption zone in the form of another product through the pipeline 26 (Fig. 5) continuously since the duration of rotation of the Central plate at an angle of 360 ^o / Y is much shorter than its rest time between turns.

 The described mode of operation with a sorption unit for reversing phase flows corresponds to the mode of operation of the device selected as a prototype. In addition, the proposed device without any fundamental changes can work in modes with desorption and with two nodes of the circulation of phase flows.

 Grooves according to the invention can be made, for example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 1, 2, 4.

 Example 2. The operation of the proposed device is illustrated by the scheme in FIG. 5. Before starting the operation of the device, sections 18, 19 and 20 from the container 14 through the pipelines 15, 28 are filled with the initial mixture. The gas movement in the plates of the shut-off switchgear and contact sections is described in Example 1. After filling the sorbent in sections 18, 19 of the separation zone and section 20 of the sorption zone, the device starts operating in the isotope separation mode.

The central plate rotates through an angle of 360 ^o / Y. The rotation direction of the central plate is shown in FIG. 4 arrow. As a result of rotation, the sorption zone from the position of section 20 moves to the position of section 21, the separation zone from the position of sections 18, 19 to the position of sections 19, 20, the desorption zone from the position of section 21 to the position of section 18.

 Using the device described in examples 1, 2, carry out the separation of isotopes as follows.

 Example 3

A mixture of hydrogen isotopes of protium-deuterium (deuterium content of 2 at) is fed into a separation column, the contact sections of which are filled with a fixed layer of hydride-forming material. Palladium is used as a hydroforming material. The temperature of the sections in the separation and sorption zone is room temperature, the temperature of the sections in the zone of hydrogen desorption from hydride is 20 ^o C.

 The separation column operates in deuterium concentration mode. The number of sections in separation zone 3, in sorption zone 1, in desorption zone 1. The layer height of hydride-forming material in each section is 5.5 cm. The feed stream is fed into the first section of the separation zone. The enriched product was selected for analysis from a gas stream coming from the separation zone to the sorption zone.

The degree of separation in the stationary mode of operation of the divided columns of the device is 1740,
Example 4

Isotopes were separated in a liquid medium by chemical isotopic exchange of RNH ₄ with NH ₄ OH (where R is an ion exchanger) as follows. Five contact sections filled with KU 2 * 8 ion exchanger in the RH form were saturated with a solution of ammonium hydroxide (NH ₄ OH) containing separated nitrogen isotopes. A stream of sodium ions (in the form of a NaOH solution) having a higher affinity for an ion exchanger than ammonium ions was continuously fed into a specific section of the first zone of phase flow reversal. In this case, ammonium ions containing separated isotopes were displaced into the liquid phase in the form of ammonium hydroxide. When the ion exchanger is completely saturated in the first zone of phase flow reversal by sodium ions, the liquid flows are switched by means of a shut-off and distribution unit by moving the entry and exit points of the liquid flows in the direction of fluid movement to the contact sections. The section with the ion exchanger in the RN-form is regenerated with hydrochloric acid with the conversion of the ion exchanger into the RH-form, washed with water by supplying the appropriate flows to the sections by moving the zones of circulation of phase flows and simultaneously moving the points of entry and exit of the corresponding flows of hydrochloric acid, water and output streams of aqueous solutions of sodium chloride and hydrochloric acid. Thus, the second zone of phase flow reversal is suitable for the contact section regenerated in this way to saturate the ion exchange resin with ammonium ions by ion exchange of RH with NH ₄ OH.

In the separation zone, the heavy isotope ( ¹⁵ N) is concentrated in the solid phase, the light ( ¹⁴ N) in the liquid phase. Isotopically enriched ¹⁵ N product stream withdrawn from NH ₄ OH, leaving the contact section of the first treatment zone flows phase depleted in the isotope ¹⁵ N product stream of NH ₄ OH, coming into the second treatment zone flows phases. With a total length of the ion exchanger layer in the separation zone of 35 cm at room temperature, the degree of separation was 2.05 (with a separation coefficient α 1.025).

When implementing the invention provides the following advantages:
increased degree of separation;
increased productivity through continuous product selection;
reducing the time to reach the stationary state of the separation column and the accumulation of the isotope in the device by reducing the volume of communications;
compactness of the device;
the possibility of stopping or terminating the separation process while maintaining the achieved separation effect;
ease of automation of the separation process.

Claims (4)

 1. Device for countercurrent separation of isotopes, including a partitioned column with phase flow reversal units made in the form of successively arranged contact sections, and pipelines for reagent input and output, characterized in that it is additionally equipped with a single locking and distribution unit, including three cylindrical plates located coaxially one above the other, the central of which is mounted for rotation about an axis, moreover, in the body of the locking and distribution unit are made with through channels for communication of the inner surface of the upper plate with pipelines, the inner surface of the lower plate with contact sections and the inner surfaces of the central plate with each other.  2. The device according to claim 1, characterized in that on the inner surface of the upper fixed plate is additionally made concentric annular grooves. 3. The device according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that in the central plate the number of through channels is equal to the number of concentric annular grooves, and the lower surface of the plate is additionally equipped with chord grooves to communicate the output of the previous contact section with the input of the next and the number of these grooves is determined from the condition
X ≅ YN-1,
where X is the number of chordal ducts;
Y is the number of contact sections;
N is the number of contact sections in the zones of circulation of the phase flows.  4. The device according to claim 3, characterized in that the chordal grooves are made in the body of the Central plate and communicated with its surface by additional channels.

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