Noble metal-catalyzed homogeneous and heterogeneous processes in treating simulated nuclear waste media with formic acid [electronic resource]
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| Online Access: |
Online Access |
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| Corporate Authors: | , |
| Format: | Government Document Electronic eBook |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Washington, D.C. : Oak Ridge, Tenn. :
United States. Dept. of Energy ; distributed by the Office of Scientific and Technical Information, U.S. Dept. of Energy,
1995.
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| Subjects: |
| Abstract: | Simulants for the Hanford Waste Vitrification Plant feed containing the major non-radioactive components Al, Cd, Fe, Mn, Nd, Ni, Si, Zr, Na, CO₃²-, NO₃-, and NO₂- were used to study reactions of formic acid at 90{degrees}C catalyzed by the noble metals Ru, Rh, and/or Pd found in significant quantities in uranium fission products. Such reactions were monitored using gas chromatography to analyze the CO₂, H₂, NO, and N₂O in the gas phase and a microammonia electrode to analyze the NH₄+/NH₃ in the liquid phase as a function of time. The following reactions have been studied in these systems since they are undesirable side reactions in nuclear waste processing: (1) Decomposition of formic acid to CO₂ + H₂ is undesirable because of the potential fire and explosion hazard of H₂. Rhodium, which was introduced as soluble RhCl₃-3H₂O, was found to be the most active catalyst for H₂ generation from formic acid above {approximately} 80{degrees}C in the presence of nitrite ion. The H₂ production rate has an approximate pseudo first-order dependence on the Rh concentration, (2) Generation of NH₃ from the formic acid reduction of nitrate and/or nitrite is undesirable because of a possible explosion hazard from NH₄NO₃ accumulation in a waste processing plant off-gas system. The Rh-catalyzed reduction of nitrogen-oxygen compounds to ammonia by formic acid was found to exhibit the following features: (a) Nitrate rather than nitrite is the principal source of NH₃. (b) Ammonia production occurs at the expense of hydrogen production. (c) Supported rhodium metal catalysts are more active than rhodium in any other form, suggesting that ammonia production involves heterogeneous rather than homogeneous catalysis. |
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| Item Description: | Published through the Information Bridge: DOE Scientific and Technical Information. 09/01/1995. "PNL-SA--25954" "CONF-9509175--1" "DE96002718" 8. international symposium on relations between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis, Balatonfuered (Hungary), 10-14 Sep 1995. Smith, H.D.; King, R.B.; Bhattacharyya, N.K. |
| Physical Description: | 12 p. |