Online Determination of Boron Isotope Ratio in Boron Trifluoride by Infrared Spectroscopy

• Main Authors: Weijiang Zhang, Yin Tang, Jiao Xu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2018-12-01
• Series: Applied Sciences
• Subjects: isotope; boron; infrared spectroscopy; online determination
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/8/12/2509

Enriched boron-10 and its related compounds have great application prospects, especially in the nuclear industry. The chemical exchange rectification method is one of the most important ways to separate the ¹⁰B and ¹¹B isotope. However, a real-time monitoring method is needed because this separation process is difficult to characterize. Infrared spectroscopy was applied in the separation device to realize the online determination of the boron isotope ratio in boron trifluoride (BF₃). The possibility of determining the isotope ratio via the 2ν₃ band was explored. A correction factor was introduced to eliminate the difference between the ratio of peak areas and the true value of the boron isotope ratio. It was experimentally found that the influences of pressure and temperature could be ignored. The results showed that the infrared method has enough precision and stability for real-time, in situ determination of the boron isotope ratio. The instability point of the isotope ratio can be detected with the assistance of the online determination method and provides a reference for the production of boron isotope.