Three-dimensional multispecies current density simulation of molten-salt electrorefining

Choi, Sungyeol; Park, Jaeyeong; Kim, Kwang-Rag; Jung, HyoSook; Hwang, Il-Soon; Park, Byunggi; Yi, Kyongsu; Lee, Sang-Kwon; Ahn, Do-Hee; Paek, Seungwoo

doi:10.1016/j.jallcom.2010.04.228

Cited by 33 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…At a broad potential width with a fixed salt weight, the diffusion boundary layer thickness increases. This is not favorable because of the large driven over potential, which can affect the impurity deposition at the cathode 12 . In contrast, the diffusion boundary layer thickness diminishes as the potential range becomes narrow.…”

Section: Design and Performance Of Pilot‐scale Electrorefiner For Snf Zircaloy‐4 Claddingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The molten salt container is designed to have a cylindrical shaped vessel and fan‐shaped anode basket is fixed on the electrorefiner side wall, as shown in Table 3. If the anode basket rotates itself during electrorefining, the cross flows can be generated near the cathode and local mass transfer becomes complicated 12,25 . This may cause the local depletion of Zr(IV) and local deposition of U on the cathode.…”

Section: Design and Performance Of Pilot‐scale Electrorefiner For Snf Zircaloy‐4 Claddingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been reported that the diffusion boundary layer thickness near the cathode in molten salt electrorefining system has a range between a few and few hundred micrometers depending on configuration of the electrorefiner and rotating speed of the cathode 12,28 . At the potential window width of 0.15 V, the minimum diffusion boundary layer thickness is determined as at least 50 μm, since the small diffusion boundary layer thickness results in a considerable salt weight, which makes the electrorefiner vessel large.…”

Section: Design and Performance Of Pilot‐scale Electrorefiner For Snf Zircaloy‐4 Claddingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Numerical simulation can improve the cost and time effectiveness prior to the experimental approach. Multiphysics computational modeling has been extensively performed for electrorefining in high‐temperature molten salt systems 11‐18 . However, the electrorefining model involving the complicated Zr behavior has not yet been investigated.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Computational model‐based design of molten salt electrorefining process for high‐purity zirconium metal recovery from spent nuclear fuel

et al. 2020

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Summary Effective decontamination methods for spent nuclear fuel (SNF) cladding are required to recycle Zr, which is a valuable resource, by separating high purity Zr from the actinides. In this study, computational modeling is performed on an electrorefiner to achieve high‐purity Zr metal recovery without ZrCl and U from SNF Zircaloy‐4 cladding utilizing a commercial fluid dynamics code. A three‐dimensional (3D) electrorefining model specialized in simulation of multistep electrochemical reduction (eg, two‐step reduction of Zr(IV) to Zr via ZrCl) is developed by coupling the numerical models of the Butler‐Volmer equation and fluid dynamics. This model is validated by benchmarking the chemical formula of cathode deposits obtained from lab‐scale electrorefining experiments utilizing fresh Zircaloy‐4. The computational results are consistent with the compositions of Zr and ZrCl in the cathode deposits, depending on the initial ZrCl4 concentrations. Based on the developed 3D model, a pilot‐scale electrorefiner for the SNF cladding is simulated with several derived design parameters. The effects of rotating anode and cathode, potential range, molten salt weight, and the number of anode baskets are determined to optimize the electrorefiner design to achieve the suppression of ZrCl and U codeposition. The electrorefiner throughput when employing the optimized design and operating conditions is predicted to be 0.1 to 0.2 ton/y, as only pure Zr metal is recovered.

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Section: Design and Performance Of Pilot‐scale Electrorefiner For Snf Zircaloy‐4 Claddingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design and Performance Of Pilot‐scale Electrorefiner For Snf Zircaloy‐4 Claddingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Design and Performance Of Pilot‐scale Electrorefiner For Snf Zircaloy‐4 Claddingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Computational model‐based design of molten salt electrorefining process for high‐purity zirconium metal recovery from spent nuclear fuel

et al. 2020

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“…Moreover, there is no simulation model for the pyroprocessing that reflects the transient phenomenon of the working cathode. Indeed, all the existing simulations assume that the surface area of the electrode and the related electrochemical conditions remain constant 10,12 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Selective morphological analysis of cerium metal in electrodeposit recovered from molten LiCl-KCl eutectic by radiography and computed tomography

Jee

Park

Cho

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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This paper presents, for the first time, a study to analyze the surface morphology of metal extracted from a high temperature molten salt medium in the electrodeposit using x-ray radiography and computed tomography. Widely used methods such as scanning electron microscopy and inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry/mass spectrometry are destructive and the related processes are often subject to the air condition. The x-ray imaging can provide rich information of the target sample in a non-destructive way without invoking hydrolysis or oxidation of a hygroscopic sample. In this study, the x-ray imaging conditions were optimized as following: tube voltage at 100 kVp and the current exposure time product at 8.8 mAs in our in-house x-ray imaging system. LiCl-KCl and cerium metals used in this work produced substantially distinguishable contrasts in the radiography due to their distinctive attenuation characteristics, and this difference was well quantified in the histograms of brightness. Electrodeposits obtained by chronoamperometry and chronopotentiometry demonstrated a completely different behavior of electrodeposition even at the same applied charge. In particular, computed tomography and volumetric analysis clearly showed the structural and morphological dissimilarity. The structure of cerium metal in the electrodeposit was successfully separated from the chloride salt structure in the CT image by an image segmentation process.

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Numerical Analysis of Electrorefiner for Spent Nuclear Fuel and Measuring the Composition of Molten Salt by Using the LIBS

Kim¹,

Park²,

Lee³

et al. 2013

Pricm

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Three-dimensional multispecies current density simulation of molten-salt electrorefining

Cited by 33 publications

References 22 publications

Computational model‐based design of molten salt electrorefining process for high‐purity zirconium metal recovery from spent nuclear fuel

Computational model‐based design of molten salt electrorefining process for high‐purity zirconium metal recovery from spent nuclear fuel

Selective morphological analysis of cerium metal in electrodeposit recovered from molten LiCl-KCl eutectic by radiography and computed tomography

Numerical Analysis of Electrorefiner for Spent Nuclear Fuel and Measuring the Composition of Molten Salt by Using the LIBS

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