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RECOMBINATION OF HYDROGEN AND

OXYGEN IN NUCLEAR REACTOR SYSTEMS

Conference Paper December 2015

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Snehal Ghule D. Mandal

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 CR 053
RECOMBINATION OF HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN IN
NUCLEAR REACTOR SYSTEMS

1* 2 1 1
S. D. Ghule , D. Mandal , S. Sengupta , V. Veluri

1
Research Reactor Design &Projects Division,
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai-85, India
2
Chemical Engineering Division,
Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay, Mumbai-85, India

*
[ Corresponding author: E-mail:snehalghule1@gmail.com]

_________________________________________________________________________________________
15
Research reactor with high neutron flux (710 ) is being developed to produce radio-isotopes of high
specific activity for application in the fields of medicine, agriculture and industry. In order to achieve high neutron
economy and desired neutron flux heavy water is used as reflector surrounding a reactor core in an annular
68 AnnualSessionofIndianInstituteofChemicalEngineers,27-30December|Guwahati,India

tank with helium is used as cover gas. Due to intense radiations from reactor core, radiolysis of heavy water
takes place and deuterium (D2), hydrogen (H2) and oxygen (O2) are produced in reflector, which are carried
away by helium cover gas. As hydrogen is very light, flammable (flammability limits in air: 4 - 76% (v %) at
standard temperature and pressure) and has very low ignition energy (0.018 mJ) when present with air in
optimal proportions there exists a possibility of a hydrogen induced fire hazard in high flux research reactor
(HFRR).

In order to prevent the risk of hydrogen induced fire hazard it is necessary to develop a suitable recombining
process. Recombination of D2 /H2 with O2 to form water (H2O) vapour in controlled manner is one of the most
important methods to prevent the risk of hydrogen induced fire hazard, because hydrogen can be oxidized over
a catalyst at a temperature much lower than that required for thermal oxidation and it does not require the
presence of flammable mixture. Moreover, the reaction is feasible over a wide range of concentrations. Group
VIII metals i.e. Os, Rh, Ir, Pd and Pt can be used as active catalyst for the recombination reaction at room
temperature. A catalyst; 0.5 % Pd coated on alumina is widely used in hydrogen removal system in nuclear
reactors. It can also be used as catalyst in recombination of D2/H2 with O2 in HFRR, where oxygen is the limiting
reactant.

In order to design a suitable reactor for the catalytic recombination of D2 /H2 and O2 to form water vapour, the
thorough understanding of the reaction kinetics is essential. Acres [1] studied the reaction hydrogen and oxygen
to form water vapour on platinum (Pt) catalyst and found that in spite of numerous subsequent investigations
there exists no accepted mechanism for this reaction. Kinetics of reaction varies as system condition
(concentration, temperature etc.) varies. For example, kinetics is different when oxygen is a limiting reactant and
when hydrogen is a limiting reactant as well [2]. Much work on reaction kinetics with palladium (Pd) as a catalyst
is not reported in literature for O2 limiting condition. With available information reaction kinetics model was
th

proposed for hydrogen and oxygen recombination reaction with Pd as a catalyst in oxygen limiting condition and
experimental validation of proposed model of reaction kinetics was carried out.

References
[1] G. J. K. Acres, "The Reaction between Hydrogen and Oxygen on Platinum" Platinum Metals Rev., 10(2),
(1966), 60-64
[2] T. Engel, H. Kuipers, A Molecular beam investigation of the reaction on Pd, 111(90),
(1979), 181-196

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