Modeling of hydrogen isotopes separation in a metal hydride bed

✍ Scribed by S. Charton; J.P. Corriou; D. chweich

• Book ID: 104108021
• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 258 KB
• Volume: 54
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0009-2509
• DOI: 10.1016/s0009-2509(98)00205-x

✦ Synopsis

A predictive model for hydrogen isotopes separation in a non-isothermal bed of unsupported palladium hydride particles is derived. It accounts for the non-linear adsorption-dissociation equilibrium, hydrodynamic dispersion, pressure drop, mass transfer kinetics, heat of sorption and heat losses at the bed wall. Using parameters from the literature or estimated with classical correlations, the model gives simulated curves in agreement with previously published experiments without any parameter fit. The non-isothermal behavior is shown to be responsible for drastic changes of the mass transfer rate which is controlled by diffusion in the solid-phase lattice. For a feed at 300 K and atmospheric pressure, the endothermic hydride-to-deuteride exchange is kinetically controlled, whereas the reverse exothermic exchange is nearly at equilibrium. Finally, a simple and efficient thermodynamic model for the dissociative equilibrium between a metal and a diatomic gas is proposed.