Process for isolating 170 isotope from water and process for concentrating 170 isotope using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11286161-B2
Application number	US-201916290531-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 1, 2019
Priority date	Nov 16, 2018
Publication date	Mar 29, 2022
Grant date	Mar 29, 2022

Abstract

A process for isolating 17 O from water and a process for concentrating 17 O by using the same are provided. The process for isolating 17 O from water includes: mixing 17 O-containing water with formaldehyde to prepare an aqueous formaldehyde solution; heating the aqueous formaldehyde solution to generate a vapor mixture containing water vapor and formaldehyde vapor; and obtaining 17 O-depleted water, residual formaldehyde, and a gas mixture containing hydrogen and 17 O-enriched carbon monoxide, through photodissociating the vapor mixture. An 17 O-enriched water production process includes: an operation of adding hydrogen to the gas mixture to induce a catalytic methanation reaction to synthesize methane (CH 4 ) and 17 O-enriched water (H 2 17 O) through methanation, the operation being carried out following the process for isolating 17 O from water.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A process for isolating 17 O from water, comprising:
preparing an aqueous formaldehyde solution by mixing 17 O -containing water with formaldehyde;
preparing a vapor mixture containing water vapor and formaldehyde vapor by heating the aqueous formaldehyde solution; and
obtaining 17 O-depleted water, residual formaldehyde, and a gas mixture containing hydrogen and 17 O -enriched carbon monoxide, through photodissociating the vapor mixture,
wherein a wavenumber of a photodissociating laser for the photodissociating the vapor mixture is in a range of 28,370-28,400 cm 1 .

2. The process for isolating 17 O from water of claim 1 , wherein the formaldehyde is mixed with water in a molar ratio of formaldehyde to water in a range of 0.01-0.3.

3. The process for isolating 17 O from water of claim 1 , wherein the heating is carried out at a temperature in a range of 320-400 K.

4. The process for isolating 17 O from water of claim 1 , wherein the photodissociating the vapor mixture is carried out under a pressure in a range of 1-15 Torr.

5. The process for isolating 17 O from water of claim 1 , the wavenumber of a photodissociating laser for the photodissociating the vapor mixture is 28,374.63 cm −1 , 28,396.32 cm −1 , 28,397.06 cm −1 , or a combination thereof.

6. The process for isolating 17 O from water of claim 1 , wherein the photodissociating laser used for the photodissociating the vapor mixture is an optic fiber laser.

7. The process for isolating 17 O from water of claim 1 , wherein the 17 O -containing water is heavy water, light water, or a mixture thereof.

8. The process for isolating 17 O from water of claim 1 , further comprising, following the obtaining, 17 O -depleted water, residual formaldehyde, and a gas mixture containing hydrogen and 17 O -enriched carbon monoxide, cooling and condensing them separate O-depleted water and the residual formaldehyde from the gas mixture containing hydrogen and 17 O-enriched carbon monoxide.

9. The process for isolating 17 O from water of claim 8 , wherein the cooling is carried out at a temperature less than or equal to 181 K (−92° C.).

10. A process for producing 17 O-enriched water, comprising:
an operation of obtaining 17 O-depleted water, residual formaldehyde, and a gas mixture containing 17 O-enriched carbon monoxide and hydrogen, from 17 O -containing water by the process for isolating 17 O from water of claim 1 ; and
a catalytic methanation operation of adding hydrogen to the gas mixture to induce a catalytic methanation reaction to synthesize methane (CH 4 ) and 17 O -enriched water (H 2 17 O ) through methanation.

11. The process for producing 17 O -enriched water of claim 10 , wherein the 17 O -enriched water (H 2 17 O ) obtained through methanation is recirculated as a starting material for the process for isolating 17 O from water, to carry out a 17 O -enriched water production process in two stages.

Assignees

• Korea Atomic Energy Res

Inventors

• Jeong Do-Young
• Lee Lim
• Kim Yonghee
• Park Hyounmin
• Cha Yong-Ho
• Kim Taek-Soo

Classifications

• B01J2219/0875

  Gas · CPC title

• C01B32/40 Primary

  Carbon monoxide · CPC title

• C01B3/045

  in gaseous phase · CPC title

• C07B2200/05

  Isotopically modified compounds, e.g. labelled · CPC title

• C07C2523/755

  Nickel · CPC title