REMOVAL OF WATER AND IODINE BY SOLID SORBENTS: ADSORPTION ISOTHERMS AND KINETICS

摘要

Tritium and iodine-129 are two major radioactive elements that are present in off-gases from spent fuel reprocessing plants. Adsorption by solid sorbents is the state-of-the-art technique for removal of these species from off-gases. Modeling and simulating adsorption processes require accurate adsorption equilibrium and kinetic data to permit reasonable estimates of process parameters. We have developed a continuous flow single-pellet adsorption system to gather accurate adsorption equilibrium and kinetic data for adsorption of water by molecular sieve 3A and for adsorption of iodine by silver exchanged mordenite. In this paper, the design of the water and iodine adsorption experimental systems are briefly described and results of water adsorption experiments are presented and discussed. Water uptake curves are fitted with the linear-driving force model and the shrinking-core model to determine kinetic parameters. Preliminary results from iodine adsorption experiments will be presented in the conference.