INVESTIGATION OF GETTER PURIFICATION OF SODIUM FROM OXYGEN

The article focuses on a comprehensive analysis of the new concept of a combined sodium oxygen purification module. The combined purification module includes a combination of two modules: chemisorption purification with a soluble getter and high-temperature getter purification with a high-temperature getter. A special zirconium alloy in a finely dispersed granular form can be used as a high-temperature getter. Other materials (e.g. titanium and various alloys) can be used and must be tested accordingly. At the first stage of the work, research was carried out on the module for chemisorption purification of sodium from oxygen at the Protva-1 stand, which showed the effectiveness of purification using the proposed getter materials, at the second, research on the module for high-temperature getter purification. For 20 hours of operation of the chemisorption module, the oxygen concentration in sodium was reduced by 12 ppm (3 g oxygen), while 4.5 g of magnesium reacted (the initial mass of magnesium was 25 g). According to the results of experiments in the sodium loop, the decrease in the concentration of dissolved oxygen in sodium during purification with a zirconium getter for 20 h was about 50 ppm. Two promising options for the development of a combined module for the purification of sodium from oxygen are proposed. Experimental justifications of selected chemisorbent, getter and filtering material are carried out. The main part of the study is analysis of chemisorption efficiency, purification process dynamics and influence on it of temperature factor for selected chemisorbent.