Numerical Analysis of Carbon Isotope Separation by Plasma Chemical Reactions in Carbon Monoxide Glow Discharge

Abstract

The separation of carbon isotopes in CO glow discharge has been studied, in which the formation of stable products enriched in ¹³C is analyzed by the numerical simulation of kinetic model. Vibrational kinetics and vibrationally induced chemical reaction of CO molecules are considered in the kinetic model as well as electron impact reactions and isotope scrambling reactions of isotopically enriched products. The reaction yield and final isotope enrichment of the stable products are derived as a function of mean electron energy. When mean electron energy is 2.1 eV in the case of Maxwellian electron energy distribution and 3.3 eV in the case of Druyvesteyn one, the kinetic model can reproduce experimental isotope enrichment of precipitated carbon atoms in discharge reactor. The calculation suggests optimum mean electron energy of the plasma for isotope separation as 1.0 eV and, in this case, it is expected that ¹³C enrichment coefficient for precipitated carbon atoms is about 10 and its reaction yield is about 0.5%.

KEYWORDS:

• isotope separation
• carbon 13
• glow discharge
• CO-Ar gas mixture
• numerical analysis
• enrichment coefficient
• reaction yield
• vibrational distribution
• electron energy distribution
• atomic and molecular processes