Improvement of Pt/C/PTFE Catalyst Type Used for Hydrogen Isotope Separation

Abstract

The CANDU reactor from the Nuclear Power plant Cernavoda, Romania is the most powerful tritium source from Europe. This reactor is moderated and cooled by heavy water that becomes continuously contaminated with tritium. Because of this reason, the National R&D Institute for Cryogenic and Isotopic Technologies developed a detritiation technology based on catalytic isotopic exchange and cryogenic distillation.The main effort of our Institute was focused on finding more efficient catalysts with a longer operational life. Some of the tritium removal processes involved in Fusion Science & Technology use this type of catalyst. Several Pt/C/PTFE hydrophobic catalysts that could be used in isotopic exchange process were produced. The present paper presents a comparative study between the physical and morphological properties of different catalysts manufactured by impregnation at our institute. The comparison consists of a survey of specific surface, pores volume and pores distribution.