Thermal Decomposition of Nitrated Tri-n-Butyl Phosphate in a Flow Reactor. (27th December 2012)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Patil, Lalit K.; Gaikar, Vilas G.; Kumar, Shekhar; Mudali, U. Kamachi; Natarajan, R.
• Other Names: Canosa J. Academic Editor.; Yin S. Academic Editor.
• Is Part Of: ISRN chemical engineering. Volume 2012(2012)
• Publication Date: 2012-12-27
• Subjects: Chemical engineering -- Periodicals; Chemical engineering; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 660
• DOI: 10.5402/2012/193862
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2090-861X

Abstract

Abstract : Tri- n -butyl phosphate (TBP) is a universal nuclear extractant, commercially used in the PUREX process for the last 60 years. However, it is prone to nitration and thermal degradation, and as a consequence a red-oil event may be initiated under several operating conditions resulting in severe pressurization of vessel/cell if venting is inadequate. In this work, an attempt was made to understand the reaction pathway of thermal decomposition of nitrated TBP in a flow reactor at atmospheric pressure. Many reaction products were identified and quantified by instrumental methods like HPLC-RI and GC-TCD. The experimental data was analysed with a power law model and the apparent rate constants were estimated. The activation energy for thermal decomposition of nitrated TBP, assuming an Arrhenius type of temperature dependency, was estimated to be 47.39 ± 0.25 kJ·mol −1 . The effect of both varying temperature and concentration of nitric acid on conversion of TBP into degradation products and products distribution was experimentally studied. Based on the experimental observations, a reaction mechanism framework for thermal decomposition of nitrated TBP is proposed.