Preliminary Desorption studies for HZ-PAN and AgZ-PAN

Adsorption of Kr and Xe on HZ-PAN and AgZ-PAN has been the studied extensively. Prior research focused on sorbent capacity and breakthrough of Kr and Xe, with desorption cycles completed in order to close material balances and prepare sorbents for further adsorption testing. This series of tests was designed to determine preliminary information about desorption to guide further research to optimize desorption cycles for each sorbent. A series of desorption tests were run using thermal and pressure swing operations. For AgZ-PAN, these tests indicated that both heat and carrier gas are likely necessary to removed adsorbed gases. However, vacuum pressure and heat may be sufficient to desorb gases from HZ-PAN, which should result in a cleaner Kr stream during desorption. Desorption optimization for both sorbents merits further study in order to make final waste form volume as small as possible.