Breakthrough in Xenon Capture and Purification Using Adsorbent‐Supported Silver Nanoparticles

Abstract

Rare gas capture and purification is a major challenge for energy, environment, and health applications. Of utmost importance for the nuclear industry, novel separation processes for Xe are urgently needed for spent nuclear fuel reprocessing and nuclear activity monitoring. The recovered, non-radioactive Xe is also of high economic value for lighting, surgical anesthetic, etc. Here, using adsorption and breakthrough experiments and statistical mechanics molecular simulation, we show the outstanding performance of zeolite-supported silver nanoparticles to capture/separate Xe at low concentrations (0.087-100 ppm). We also establish the efficiency of temperature swing adsorption based on such adsorbents for Xe separation from Kr/Xe mixtures and air streams corresponding to off-gases generated by nuclear reprocessing. This study paves the way for the development of novel, cost-efficient technologies relying on the large selectivity/capacity of adsorbent-supported silver nanoparticles which surpass all materials ever tested.

Fast ‘Operando’ electron nanotomography

“…Metal NPs encapsulated in hollow microporous silica crystals represent a very interesting class of nanomembrane reactors in which the reaction is essentially governed by the permeability of the shell (Farrusseng & Tuel, ). These nanocatalysts are the subject of continuous development for applications such as nuclear waste treatments or selective heterogeneous catalysis (Deliere et al ., ; http://www.molecularproducts.com/us/ionex.htm). Indeed, particles are only accessible to molecules that can diffuse through the zeolite walls, that is with a kinetic diameter smaller than the pore size.…”

One-Pot Synthesis of High-Flux b-Oriented MFI Zeolite Membranes for Xe Recovery

“…4,58 This is further supported by the slight increase of separation factor with temperature, which is the result of a stronger reduction in Xe adsorption because of its higher heat of adsorption than that of CO 2 . 4 The same situation applies for Kr/Xe separation in other nanoporous crystalline membranes, such as ZIF-8 and SAPO-34, as elucidated by molecular simulation. 60…”

Molten Salt Reactor Engineering Study for Off-Gas Management

“…They demonstrated that the xenon bed could be regenerated after a heat treatment of 200-250°C. In studies in the Farrusseng laboratory (Daniel et al, 2013;Deliere et al, 2016), Ag-exchanged ZSM-5 zeolites showed promise for noble gas capture and separation and performed better than several MOFs evaluated head-to-head along with the zeolites. MOFs are composed of organic moieties interlinked by metal ions or clusters forming a three-dimensional (3D) crystal structure with long-range order.…”