Uop Lcc

Stephen A McColl

Robert C Mulvaney, Iii

Steven P Lankton

Franz-Marcus Nowak

A method for purifying liquid metal heat exchange fluids uses a contacting drum in combination with purifiers to control metal hydride precipitation in a process with high hydrogen permeation. The contacting drum receives a slip stream of a circulating liquid metal stream and removes hydrogen from dissolved hydride by providing a high interfacial surface area and sufficient temperature for hydride decomposition under vacuum conditions. The liquid metal with a reduced hydride level may be returned to the circulating heat exchange stream or undergo further purification by hydride precipitation and filtration in a cold trap. The drum may be integrated with the cold traps to decompose re-dissolved hydride from a regenerant stream that dissolves precipitated hydride from the cold traps.

Hydride removal method for liquid metal heat exchange fluid in high

A method for removing oxides from a liquid metal heat exchange fluid following the initial startup of the heat exchange system fixes oxygen by locating an oxygen scavenging material in a drain tank. During initial fabrication and periods of maintenance metal surfaces of the conduits, heat exchange elements and other equipment become coated with an oxide layer. This invention eliminates the need for the sacrificial traps in the circulating system that are used to remove this initial oxide loading by placing an oxygen scavenging material in the drain tank. The drain tank is ordinarily provided to retain the inventory of liquid metal when it is not circulating in the heat exchange volume. A simple drain down of the liquid metal inventory can thereby remove from the liquid metal inventory essentially all of the oxide impurities that usually accompany an initial startup of such a system. As a result traps or other elements that were needed for this initial clean-up are unnecessary in the main circulation volume of the liquid metal.

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Des Plaines, IL, United States of America

Stephen A McColl