Thermodynamic Concept to Evaluate the Performance of Organic Base Ion Exchange Resins Purolite NRW-5050 and Indion-870 Using Short-Lived Radioisotopes

Abstract

The present paper deals with application of short-lived radiotracer isotopes to understand the performance of Purolite NRW-5050 (nuclear grade) and Indion-870 (non-nuclear grade) anion exchange resins. The performance evaluation was done based on thermodynamics of iodide and bromide ion-isotopic exchange reactions. It was observed that for Purolite NRW-5050 resins during the bromide ion-isotopic exchange reaction, the enthalpy and energy of activation values calculated were 3287.8 and 5869.3 J.mol-1 respectively, which were less than the respective values of 8486.7 and 11068.2 J.mol-1 obtained for the same reaction using Indion-870 resins. The identical trend was observed for the two resins during the iodide ion-isotopic exchange reaction. The thermodynamic data suggest that Purolite NRW-5050 resins were more efficient than Indion-870. This was further confirmed from the fact that for 0.003M iodide ion solution, as the temperature of solution increases from 30.0 to 45.0 °C, the percentage of iodide ions exchanged increases from 82.80 to 78.00% using Purolite NRW-5050 resins and from 51.45 to 48.32% using Indion-870 resins. Similarly, when the temperature of ionic solution was kept constant at 40.0 °C, as the concentration of labeled iodide ion solution increases from 0.001 to 0.004 mol/L, the percentage of iodide ions exchanged increases from 76.44 to 80.90% using Purolite NRW-5050 resins and from 45.80 to 51.05% using Indion-870 resins. The overall results of the present investigation reveal superior performance of Purolite NRW-5050 over Indion-870 resins under identical experimental conditions.

Keywords: Purolite NRW-5050, reaction thermodynamics, 131I, 82Br, industrial grade resins, Indion-870

Cite this Article: Singare PU. Thermodynamic Concept to Evaluate the Performance of Organic Base Ion Exchange Resins Purolite NRW-5050 and Indion-870 Using Short-Lived Radioisotopes. Journal of Nuclear Engineering & Technology. 2015; 5(1): 8-19p.