LITHIUM ENRICHING BY ISOTOPE 7Li WITH ELECTROMEMBRANE METHOD

The need for using isotopes in the nuclear power engineering, medicine, as well as in the sphere of control of engineering and construction facilities is increasing annually. However, the isotope separation methods do not allow to meet the need for production of a significant list of isotopes, including the purity of lithium isotopes. The process of amalgamation to date is the main technology of enrichment of 7Li in practical use. Other methods have very low separation efficiency and are not suitable for mass production. The present work is devoted to a new method for enriching the isotope 7Li, in parallel, the work presents the method of separating lithium isotopes by amalgamation modified by authors. The study relates to physical chemistry, in particular to electromigration processes and methods for separating lithium isotopes. A new promising approach for separating Li isotopes is the electrodialysis process using an ionic liquid as an electrolyte. Data on the relevance and uses of 7Li isotopes are given, the existing methods and criteria for the separation of lithium isotopes are considered. The article briefly describes the principle of the new technology, the regimes of enrichment experiments and the details of analysis of products obtained. Moreover, the new technology demonstrates the good environmental characteristics, it is amenable to mass production and has very low power consumption. However, it should be also emphasized that ionic liquids are very sensitive to impurities which inevitably appear in the electrolyte during separation process. One of the most important characteristics of isotope separation methods and technologies is the specific energy consumption, so currently the problem of reducing energy consumption is acute, for which it is necessary to create new methods for separation and purification of isotope systems and modernization of technologies already introduced in industry. The proposed method for enriching the 7Li isotope is carried out by controlling the process of electromigration of lithium ions through ion-exchange membranes in the electrolytic cell compartments. The work in the long-term future can ensure an increase in the efficiency of enrichment process for the 7Li isotope and a decrease in specific energy costs.

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