Girdler Sulphide Process

The Girdler sulfide process is used to enrich normal (“light”) to “heavy” water and is named after the first industrial user, the Girdler Company, but is also known as the Geib-Spevack process after Karl-Hermann Geib and Jerome S. Spevack. Independently of each other, the two invented the process used to extract heavy water in the early 1940s .

principle

The Girdler sulphide process is based on a two-temperature isotope exchange. A solution of water and hydrogen sulfide is used in this process . Both components of the solution are able to exchange hydrogen atoms . In this exchange process, deuterium is temperature-dependent. At high temperatures a deuterium atom migrates preferentially to hydrogen sulfide, at low temperatures it migrates preferentially to water .

${\displaystyle \mathrm {HDO+H_{2}S\leftrightharpoons H_{2}O+HDS} }$

construction

In the Girdler sulfide process, a structure consisting of two temperature levels is used, the temperatures are around 20 ° C and 130 ° C. Both temperature levels are connected via a gaseous hydrogen sulphide circuit running on the countercurrent principle . In the cold stage, fresh water is supplied, which flows into the hot stage via a connection. The hot stage has a drain for depleted water. After several (mostly 3) cycles, enriched heavy water arises, up to 99.75%.

Due to the low temperature of the cold stage, deuterium atoms migrate from the hydrogen sulfide to the fresh water supplied. This enriches the fresh water supplied and depletes the hydrogen sulfide. The enriched fresh water flows through a connection into the hot stage where it meets the depleted hydrogen sulfide again. Due to the high temperature of the hot stage, the deuterium atoms migrate from the enriched water to the depleted hydrogen sulfide. This enriches the hydrogen sulfide again and flows into the cold stage.

In the connections between the temperature levels, enriched hydrogen sulfide and enriched water are withdrawn. These enriched substances are passed through further stages of this build-up to increase the level of enrichment.

swell

• Kenneth D. Kok (Ed.): Nuclear engineering handbook . CRC Press, 2009, ISBN 978-1-4200-5390-6 , pp. 172 .
• Hans G. Hirschberg: Handbook process engineering and plant construction: chemistry, technology and economic efficiency . Springer, 1999, ISBN 3-540-60623-8 , p. 122. ( Google Books )
• AS Sadovsky ( Karpov Institute of Physical Chemistry): Heavy Water. History of one priority: Part I ( Memento from November 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) and Part II ( Memento from November 11, 2014 in the Internet Archive ).
• Juske Horita, David R. Cole: Aqueous Systems at Elevated Temperatures and Pressures . Academic Press, London 2004, ISBN 0-12-544461-3 , 9. Stable isotope partitioning in aqueous and hydrothermal systems to elevated temperatures, pp. 310 , doi : 10.1016 / B978-012544461-3 / 50010-7 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Mitsuru Kikuchi: Frontiers in Fusion Research II. Springer, 2015, ISBN 978-3-319-18905-5 , p. 331.
2. ↑ Patent US4620909 : Method for isotope replenishment in an exchange liquid used in a laser induced isotope enrichment process. Filed October 31, 1983 , published November 4, 1986 Inventors: Graham M. Keyser, David L. Mader, James A. O'Neill. ‌
3. ^ Alan E. Comyns: Encyclopedic Dictionary of Named Processes in Chemical Technology, Fourth Edition . CRC Press, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4665-6776-4 , pp. 144 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
4. ↑ ^{a b} Jaemoon Yang: Deuterium. Elsevier, 2016, ISBN 978-0-128-11041-6 , p. 15.