Gaseous reagent generator

Abstract

An apparatus and method for generating on demand a gaseous product from a liquid phase reaction of one reactant in the solid phase at ambient room conditions and another reactant in the liquid phase at ambient room conditions. The reactants preferably are iodine crystals, and liquid tetrahydronaphthalene (THN), with the gaseous product being hydrogen iodide. The liquid phase reaction, in the preferred embodiment, is 2I.sub.2 +C.sub.10 H.sub.12 .fwdarw.4HI+C.sub.10 H.sub.8, known per se. Preferably, THN is pumped from a reservoir to be sprinkled over the iodine crystals in another reservoir. Some iodine dissolves into the liquid THN, with the resulting solution then percolating through a reaction zone containing a heated, porous packing material. Heat is transferred to the solution, thereby promoting, i.e., driving the above reaction. The gaseous hydrogen iodide is then removed from the reaction zone; typically for direct use, for example, in a chemical laser. The gaseous HI is generated at sufficiently high flow rates and/or partial pressures to be used in chemical lasers, eg., based on HF, HCl or HBr which operate at about 2700 nm, 3800 nm, and 4100 nm, respectively.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.