Aspects Concerning Manufacture of Reproducible and Homogeneous Batches of Pt/C/PTFE Catalyst for Hydrogen-Water Isotopic Exchange

The platinum on charcoal and polytetrafluorethylene (Pt/C/PTFE) is one of the most active and stable catalyst used for tritium removal from nuclear liquid effluents by isotopic exchange between hydrogen and water. This type of catalyst can be used alone or mixed with hydrophilic packing in so-called “mixed catalytic packing”. The mixed catalytic packing COMPACK CP-001 type has been selected and proposed by ICSI Rm-Valcea, to equip the liquid phase catalytic exchange (LPCE) columns from the future Industrial Tritium Removal from Cernavoda NPP (CTRF). The paper presents significant aspects concerning the manufacture of reproducible and homogenous batches of catalyst. Each preparation (follow: impregnation, drying, mixing, shaping and sintering) is presented and discussed. The main characteristics of Pt/C/PTFE catalyst (surface area; pores volume, metallic area, platinum particle size and SEM images are determined) in order to check the reproducibility and the homogeneity of catalyst batches manufactured by different workers. An automatic system for increasing of the productivity of manufacture has been manufactured and tested. The results of measurements on different batches handmade or automatic manufactured, showed close characteristics. This confirms the reproducibility of catalyst manufacture.