Patent Number: 044902883
Section: description

The DRAWING shows, by way of example and diagrammatically an embodiment of a system according to the invention. The apparatus is designed to purify the atmosphere in an enclosed work-area 10 in the form of a so-called "glove-box". The atmosphere in closed area 10 is circulated by means of a blower. Gas from area 10 flows through an outlet line 14, an activity-measuring unit 16, a hydrogenating unit 18 connected to a regenerator 20, through a further activity-measuring unit 22 and, finally, through blower 12, and a return line 24, back to area 10. The atmosphere in area 10 may consist of an inert gas, more particularly a noble gas such as argon. Hydrogenating unit 18 may contain a fluidized bed, a fixed bed, a solution-column or an emulsion-column. The hydrogenating unit preferably contains an unsaturated fatty acid, and the said regenerator is used to separate tritium-containing reaction products. If the atmosphere in area 10 contains oxygen and consists of air, for example, hydrogenating unit 18 may also be preceded by a known oxidizing unit 26 which contains a catalytic furnace 28 and a molecular-sieve column 30 and which is otherwise of known design. In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the hydrogenating unit 18 is comprised of a column filled with know packing internals, as Intalox saddle bodies. A liquid mixture, comprising in proportional amounts 40 parts by volume linoleic acid (95%) PA0 10 parts by volume linolenic acid (70%) PA0 1 gram palladium acetonylacetate (hydrating catalyst) PA0 40 milliliters linoleic acid (95%) PA0 10 milliliters linolenic acid (70%) and PA0 1 gram palladium acetonylacetate is fed to the top of the column. The gas to be purified is fed to the bottom of the column, and the purified gas is withdrawn from the top of the column. The liquid mixture which may comprise solved stearic acid formed by hydration with tritium, is withdrawn from the bottom of the column, and passed through the regenerator which may comprise a fractionating column of known type. The purified liquid mixture, from which the tritium-containing stearic acid has been removed is recirculated to the purifying column. The following test shows the effectiveness of this process: were placed in a glass vessel having a volume of 250 milliliters. The remaining volume of the vessel was filled with helium comprising tritium in a proportion to obtain an initial activity of 1.25.times.10.sup.-5 Curies per milliliter. The vessel was shaken to secure intimate gas-liquid contact. Samples of 50 microliters were withdrawn from the vessel in regular intervals of about 5 minutes, and the tritium concentration was measured in a liquid scintillator measuring device. The activity of the acid mixture rose continuously and more than 95 percent of the initial activity was found in the acid mixture already after 30 minutes. After 3 hours, the tritium concentration of the liquid samples leveled off at a saturation value corresponding, within the accuracy of measurement, to a tritium content of 2.5 millicuries. Simultaneous by, a plurality of samples were obtained from the gas volume and investigated: The average value of the tritium concentration found was 3.times.10.sup.-7 Ci/ml. Thus, essentially all of the available tritium was taken up by the acid mixture, and the radioactivity of the gas was reduced to about one percent of its initial value. The invention has been described by way of illustration rather then limitation, and varions modifications will occur to those skilled in the art within the scope of the invention.