Experimental investigation on gasification of cationic ion exchange resin used in nuclear power plants by supercritical water

  • Le Wang
  • , Lei Yi
  • , Gaoyun Wang
  • , Linhu Li
  • , Libo Lu
  • , Liejin Guo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

37 Scopus citations

Abstract

Spent ion exchange resins produced by nuclear power plants are radioactive organic waste. Until now, there is no satisfactory industrial treatment. Supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of cationic ion exchange resin (CIER) used in nuclear power plants was carried out in a batch reactor in this study. Results showed that the gasification efficiency increased with the growth of temperature (550–750 °C), addition of alkali homogeneous catalyst (K2CO3), proper ratio loading of catalyst to CIER (1:1), decrease of feed concentration (2–10 wt%) and extension of residence time (10–60 min). Carbon gasification efficiency was up to 97.98% with K2CO3 added and 30 min at 750 °C in the batch reactor. The gaseous products mainly consist of H2, CO, CO2 and CH4. The GC–MS analysis showed that the organic component in liquid products was mainly composed of benzene, monocycle arenes, phenol group and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Based on the experimental results, the formation and gasification pathways of CIER in SCW were proposed.

Original languageEnglish
Article number126437
JournalJournal of Hazardous Materials
Volume419
DOIs
StatePublished - 5 Oct 2021

Keywords

  • Catalyst
  • Cationic ion exchange resin
  • Reaction mechanism
  • Supercritical water gasification

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