An Analytical study on the Enrichment of Heavy Water in Continuous-Type Thermal-Diffusion Columns with External Refluxes

• Main Authors: Jia-Jan Guo, 郭家展
• Other Authors: Chii-Dong Ho
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2001
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/05735135215149994120

碩士 === 淡江大學 === 化學工程學系 === 89 === Thermal diffusion separation process can be applied to the separation of hightly valuable materials, that are difficult or impossible to separate, by other means. The process has been used at Oak Ridge Laboratory to separate the uranium isotopes in World War Ⅱ. For separation of hydrogen isotopes, the present method is more effective because of the large ratio of the molecular weight difference to the sum. A new device of inserting an impermeable sheet or a permeable barrier to divide the thermal diffusion columns into two subchannels with external refluxes at the ends, resulting in substantially improving the separation efficiency of heavy water, has been developed and investigated by an orthogonal expansion technique. The analytical results are represented graphically and compared with that in an open column of the same size with recycle. Considerable improvement on the enrichment of heavy water is obtainable by employing such devices with an impermeable sheet or a permeable barrier instead of using the open column without external refluxes. The effect of sheet or barrier location on the enhancement of the separation efficiency of heavy water has also been studied.