Several tasks related to the use of xenon (Xe) and neon (Ne) isotopes were formulated at the end of the 20th century [1]. Xe has nine stable isotopes ( 124 Xe, 126 Xe, 128 Xe, 129 Xe, 130 Xe, 131 Xe, 132 Xe, 134 Xe, 136 Xe); Ne, three ( 20 Ne, 21 Ne, 22 Ne) [1, 2].The separation coeffi cient can be used to evaluate technical and economic factors of the process for separating a binary gas mixture [1, 3] and is approximated for diffusion separation of a mixture (through a porous diaphragm) as [1,4] (1)where M h and M l are the molecular masses of the heavy and light components, respectively.Equation (1) is valid for Knudsen fl ow through a porous diaphragm. The separation coeffi cients for the binary mixtures 20 Ne-21 Ne, 20 Ne-22 Ne, and 21 Ne-22 Ne are k s 20-21 ≅ 1.0247, k s 20-22 ≅ 1.0488, k s 21-22 ≅ 1.0235, respectively. The separation in one stage is miniscule; however, it can be increased by combining diffusion cells [5]. The mole ratio 20 Ne: 22 Ne ≈ 9.8:1.0 or y 22 Ne ≈ 0.092 is used for estimating the number of diffusion cells (number of contact stages) for separating the 20 Ne-22 Ne mixture. The separation coeffi cient of the mixture is set to k s 20-22 ≅ 1.0488 = const whereas k s 20-22 ≅ 1.0200 for comparison. Figure 1 shows the required number of diffusion cells (calculated by the literature method [6]). Stable Xe isotopes are produced in Russia mainly by centrifuge technology [1]. The separation coeffi cient for a binary mixture of ideal gases by centrifuge technology (at constant temperature) is [1](2) where ϖ is the angular velocity; a, the rotor radius; T, the temperature; and R, the gas constant.
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