Effect of Moisture on the Adsorption of Iodine and Krypton in Multicomponent Streams on the 10 WTETS-10 Sorbent

Over 13% of the world's energy demand is supplied by nuclear power plants in 31 countries. This demand is growing; by 2030 the IAEA predicts a 100% increase in the demand for nuclear energy. The increase in nuclear energy production imposes a growing strain on the uranium fuel supply. At current consumption rates the world's supply of uranium is projected to last ∼200 years. With the growing energy consumption, uranium supplies will dwindle even more quickly. However, ∼95% of uranium is left in used nuclear fuel (UNF) and may be utilized through reprocessing. A main concern with reprocessing is the release of off-gas. The major constituents of off-gas include {sup 85}Kr, {sup 129}I, {sup 14}C, {sup 3}H, and various Xe isotopes. {sup 85}Kr and {sup 129}I present the largest threat due to their harmful environmental effects and abundance. Several methods have been studied for the removal of these contaminants, including cryogenic distillation, fluorocarbon absorption, wet scrubbing, and adsorption have been employed. Adsorption on porous solid sorbents has the advantages of being simple, effective, and economic. Thus many studies have been performed investigating several sorbents such as silver impregnated mordenite, silver Engelhard titanosilicate 10, chalcogen-based aerogels, and metal organic frameworks. Despite these advances, many of these studies have been conducted under ideal conditions: cryogenic temperature, helium as a carrier gas, and single component adsorption. The need for investigating adsorption under conditions more representative of practical use is needed. Thus our work has been devoted to the study of adsorption of {sup 85}Kr and {sup 129}I from a simulated off-gas on an Engelhard titanosilicate 10 (ETS-10) supported carbon nanopolyhedron sorbent (C/ETS-10) in a multicomponent system at ambient temperatures. Previously we have reported sorption capacities of C/ETS-10 for single component krypton, and iodine. The effects multi-contaminant iodine and krypton and their respective inlet concentrations on the sorption capacity of 10 wt% C/ETS-10 have also been studied. Investigations into the effect of the presence of moisture in the multicomponent gas mixture on the sorption on 10 wt% C/ETS-10 are described in this paper.