Method for concentrating heavy nitrogen isotope
AssigneeTaiyo Nippon Sanso Corporation
InventorsHitoshi Kihara, Takashi Kambe, Shigeru Hayashida
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Abstract
A method for concentrating effectively the heavy nitrogen isotope 15N to 50 atom % or more in which 14N15N and/or 15N2, which are molecules containing a heavy nitrogen isotope of 15N, are concentrated by distilling successively nitrogen N2 using plural distillation columns T1 to T4 each of which includes at least one condenser C1 to C4 and at least one reboiler R1 to R4 and is arranged in series, and a part of nitrogen in the distillation is drawn out to be subjected to isotope scrambling in an isotope scrambler S1, and nitrogen after the isotope scrambling is returned to the distillation to produce nitrogen N2 with a 15N concentration of 50 atom % or more.
Claims9
A method for concentrating a heavy nitrogen isotope 15N in which 14N15N and/or 15N2, which are molecules containing a heavy nitrogen isotope of 15N, are concentrated, wherein the method comprises:
- distilling successively raw material nitrogen N2 using plural distillation columns each of which comprises a condenser and a reboiler and is arranged in series, and a part of nitrogen in the distillation is drawn out to be subjected to isotope scrambling, and nitrogen after the isotope scrambling is returned to the distillation to produce nitrogen N2 with a 15N concentration of 50 atom % or more,
- wherein supplying N2 from a certain distillation column other than a final distillation column to another distillation column which is the next stage is performed using a pressure difference between the two distillation columns as driving force, and N2 is present from a distillation column other than a first column to another distillation column of a former stage using a liquid head pressure of nitrogen as a driving force, and
- wherein a cooling fluid used in the condenser is nitrogen N2 which is other than nitrogen N2 to be distilled in the distillation step to control the pressure at the top of the distillation column provided with the condenser, and a pressure difference which is a driving force to supply N2 to the distillation column is obtained.
A method for concentrating a heavy nitrogen isotope 15N in which 14N15N and/or 15N2, which are molecules containing a heavy nitrogen isotope of 15N, are concentrated, wherein the method comprises:
- distilling successively raw material nitrogen N2 using plural distillation columns each of which comprises a condenser and a reboiler and is arranged in series, and a part of nitrogen in the distillation is drawn out to be subjected to isotope scrambling, and nitrogen after the isotope scrambling is returned to the distillation to produce nitrogen N2 with a 15N concentration of 50 atom % or more,
- wherein supplying N2 from a certain distillation column other than a final distillation column to another distillation column which is the next stage is performed using a pressure difference between the two distillation columns as driving force, and N2 is present from a distillation column other than a first column to another distillation column of a former stage using a liquid head pressure of nitrogen as a driving force, and
- wherein a pipe for resending nitrogen N2 from a distillation column to the former distillation column is cooled with liquid nitrogen which is other than the nitrogen in the distillation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.