DEVELOPMENT OF A HYDROGEN ISOTOPE EXTRAPOLATION CURVE FOR PLATINUM CATYLIZED ZEOLITE

Experiments were conducted in 2003 and 2004 with protium and deuterium to demonstrate the hydrogen exchange properties of various catalyzed zeolites for tritium stripping purposes. A column was loaded with the experimental material and purged with either H{sub 2} or D{sub 2} as shown in Figure 1 and the effluent monitored with a Prisma Quadrupole. The purge gas was switched when the column outlet concentrations reached >95% of the purge isotope. Outlet concentrations were calculated as the sum of the purge isotope in the elemental form plus the purge isotope in the oxide form (the purge stream was humidified as it passed through the column) divided by the total hydrogen isotopes in the effluent. 1.5 wt.% Pt on CBV 780 zeolite, manufactured by Zeolist International, had the best exchange characteristics, high capacity and fast kinetics, of the materials tested. This memorandum describes an approach to extrapolate previously unpublished hydrogen for deuterium exchange data collected earlier on 1.5 wt.% Pt on CBV 780 to lower concentrations for potential engineering applications.