For several years, the U. S. Atomic Energy Commission has placed limits on the types and amounts of various impurities permitted in uranium hexafluoride returned to its gaseous diffusion complex. To aid in providing the technology required to meet these specifications, an experimental program is being conducted at the Oak Ridge Gase.ous Diffusion Plant to test various solid sorbent materials to determine their effectiveness for selectively removing volatile impurities from uranium hexafluoride. The testing procedure currently used in this work involves passing a uranium hexafluoride vapor str•eam, spike(t with one or more impurity. fluorides, through a 3-inch-diameter trap containing a 36-inch-deep sorbent bed. Sample pairs are periodically withdrawn at the trap inlet and.outlet and are subsequently analyzed for impurity concentrations to establish sorbent performance. The •beds are also removed and analyzed following the tests to provide saturation values and data for material balance checks. In the recent test series, most of the runs were conducted using various combinations of the impurities, niobium pentafluoride, titanium tetrafluoride, ruthenium pentafluoride, tantalum pentafluoride, and antimony pentafluoride, and the sorbents, sodium fluoride at 650°F and magnesium fluoride at 250°F. The results of these simulated process sorption tests have been very encouraging. It was found that magnesium fluoride could selectively remove signifi•cant quanti ties of niobium pentafluoride, tanto.lum pentafluoride, titanium tetrafluoride, and antimony pentaf•luoride but was less effective than sodium fluoride for removing ruthentum pentafluoride. Seeping studies designed to evaluate new sorbents were also begun, and results obtained to date. indicate that lithium fluoride and aluminum fluoride are particularly promising.

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