Recombiner

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Recombiners or hydrogen recombiners are devices that catalytically oxidize gaseous hydrogen with surrounding oxygen to form water .

Palladium , which is vapor-deposited onto a carrier material, for example small aluminum oxide spheres, is mostly used as the catalyst material .

Use in accumulators

See also: lead accumulator

For batteries with liquid electrolyte, such as. B. lead-acid or nickel-iron batteries are formed at the end of the charging process at the electrodes of gaseous acid and hydrogen by electrolysis, which normally escapes. The resulting water loss must be compensated for by topping up with distilled water. Recombiners in each cell can reduce water loss to the point of being maintenance-free.

Use in nuclear facilities

See also: Formation of hydrogen in the article core meltdown

Hydrogen recombiners are used in nuclear power plants, so-called potter candles . In normal operation, small amounts of gaseous hydrogen are produced in a nuclear reactor , and in the case of accidents with a cooling failure, large amounts may arise . Hydrogen concentrations between 4 and 75 percent in normal air can lead to oxyhydrogen explosions (hydrogen explosions).

The hydrogen explosion on March 28, 1979 during the nuclear accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant ( USA ) could possibly have been prevented with recombiners. Therefore, among other things, all nuclear power plants in Germany have been equipped with recombiners. As a gas explosion in the brunsbüttel nuclear power plant showed that use in the safety containers , however, mounted recombiners nothing when hydrogen within a pipe of the reactor pressure vessel ignited.

Recombiners can also be used for decay basins and fuel element containers , which ensure that the released hydrogen can react to form water before an explosive concentration occurs.

Web links

literature

  • Inga Maren Tragsdorf: Development and investigation of catalyst elements for innovative hydrogen recombiners . Ed .: Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Institute for Safety Research and Reactor Safety. Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, Central Library, Jülich 2005, ISBN 978-3-89336-384-1 .
  • Pere Drinovac: Experimental investigations on catalytic hydrogen recombiners for light water reactors . Ed .: Technical University of Aachen, dissertation. Aachen 2006, DNB  982569203/34 , urn : nbn: de: hbz: 82-opus-16825 .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Three Mile Island. Gesellschaft für Anlagen- und Reaktorsicherheit (GRS) gGmbH, archived from the original on January 7, 2017 ; accessed on January 7, 2017 .