Hydrophobic Platinum Honeycomb Catalyst to be Used for Tritium Oxidation Reactors

We have developed two types of hydrophobic platinum honeycomb catalyst to be used for tritium oxidation reactors. One is the hydrophobic platinum catalyst on a metal honeycomb. The other is the hydrophobic platinum catalyst on a ceramic honeycomb made of silicon carbide. The activity of these catalysts was evaluated with tritium. The effects of hydrogen concentration (0.02 to 1000 ppm) and water concentration (100 or 22000 ppm) in the gaseous feed on the activity were investigated. The fine platinum particles around a few nanometers significantly improve the catalytic activity for the oxidation tritium at a very small concentration. The hydrogen concentration in the gaseous feed slightly affects the overall reaction rate constant for hydrogen oxidation. Due to the competitive adsorption of hydrogen and water molecules on platinum surface, the overall reaction rate constant has the bottom value at the hydrogen concentration of 100 ppm with the dry feed gas. We have experimentally confirmed the activity of these honeycomb catalysts is as good as that of granular hydrophobic catalyst. The results support the hydrophobic honeycomb catalysts can be used for tritium oxidation reactors.