Honeycomb Palladium catalyst for the oxidation of tritiated hydrocarbons produced in tritium facilities

Iwai, Yasunori; Sato, Katsumi; Yamanishi, Toshihiko

We have developed a honeycomb Pd catalyst applicable for the oxidation of the tritiated hydrocarbons. In this study, honeycomb Pd catalysts of three different densities, 2, 5 and 10 g/L, were prepared to investigate the effect of density on reaction rate. Tritiated methane was selected as a typical hydrocarbon. Overall reaction rate constant for tritiated methane oxidation on honeycomb Pd catalyst were determined with a flow-through system as a function of space velocity from 1000 to 6300 h, methane concentration in carrier from 0.004 to 100 ppm, temperature of catalyst from 322 to 673 K. The density of palladium deposited on the base material had little effect on reaction rate for tritiated methane oxidation. The overall reaction rate constant was proportional to the space velocity. The overall reaction rate constant was independent on the methane concentration when it was less than 10 ppm.