Effect of inner radius of wetted-wall column on separative performance of H2O-HTO water distillation

Developing a computer code which solves concentration profiles simultaneously for vapor and liquid phases, we analyzed an effect of inner radius of wetted-wall column on separative performances of water distillation for H2O-HTO isotope separation. Results through the code were compared with experiments for H2O-HTO wetted-wall water distillation under the total reflux condition with columns of 3 and 8 mm of inner radius R. Total separation factors of R = 3 mm were larger than those of R = 8 mm, and the fact was well predicted by a numerical analysis. The total separation factors for theoretically maximum vaporization rate constant kv,A = 1.57 x 104 cm/s gave a virtual its upper limit in the range of relatively large Reynolds number. (author)