Producing Useful Chemicals Using a Nuclear Reactor

Plant, Arran and Najdanovic, Vesna and Joyce, Malcolm and Jazbec, Anže and Snoj, Luka (2020) Producing Useful Chemicals Using a Nuclear Reactor. In: International Conference on Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation Measurement Methods and their Applications (ANIMMA), 2019-06-17 - 2019-06-21.

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Abstract

In this paper, the irradiation of glycerol and ethylene glycol by either mixed (neutron-γ) or γ-only (γ) fields at the TRIGA reactor of the Jožef Stefan Institute is described. This is highly relevant to future applications of fission reactor systems to produce useful feedstock derivatives from organic waste, beyond the production of heat and power. Samples of glycerol and ethyl glycol have been exposed to neutron-gamma radiation with fast neutron fluxes ranging from 7.7×1010 to 3×1012 cm−2s−1 and gamma-only irradiation at maximum dose-rates of 492 and 10 kGy hr−1, respectively. A study of the dependence of product yield versus absorbed dose has been conducted, for total dose ranges of 1 to 100 kGy. The products of these exposures have been identified through Gas Chromatography – Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) techniques. Analysis comparing neutron-gamma irradiated samples of ethylene glycol and glycerol with gamma-irradiated samples shows no detectable qualitative difference between either irradiation type. Although, additional radiolysis products were detected when compared with available literature; ethyl acetate from ethylene glycol and solketal from glycerol. Quantitatively, neutron-gamma irradiation seems to be less effective at producing acetaldehyde from ethylene glycol, compared with gamma-only which can be explained through neutron moderation and consequent heating effects due to the borosilicate vials.

Item Type:
Contribution to Conference (Paper)
Journal or Publication Title:
International Conference on Advancements in Nuclear Instrumentation Measurement Methods and their Applications (ANIMMA)
Additional Information:
© The Authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2020. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3100/3108
Subjects:
?? radiolysisnucleargas chromatography-mass spectrometryorganic chemicalschemical engineeringradiationnuclear energy and engineeringanalytical chemistrycatalysis ??
ID Code:
155414
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
23 Jun 2021 16:00
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
14 Aug 2024 23:09