Poisoning additives, relative

Additional code validations, against a series of critical experiments performed at PKL s Critical Mass Labora tory for gadolinium-poisoned plutonium-nitrate systems, show a maximum nonconservative bias of 5.2% (at a 05% confidence level) in calculating the gadolinium-poisoned systems relative to the unpoisoned systems. The estimate of the calculational bias due to the. presence of gadolinium was obtained by comparing the KENO-gen-erated Keff values for the gadolinium-poisoned vs nbn-polsoned critical experiments. 

Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell. Concentrated phosphoric acid is used for the electrolyte ia PAFC, which operates at 150 to 220°C. At lower temperatures, phosphoric acid is a poor ionic conductor (see Phosphoric acid and the phosphates), and CO poisoning of the Pt electrocatalyst ia the anode becomes more severe when steam-reformed hydrocarbons (qv) are used as the hydrogen-rich fuel. The relative stabiUty of concentrated phosphoric acid is high compared to other common inorganic acids consequentiy, the PAFC is capable of operating at elevated temperatures. In addition, the use of concentrated (- 100%) acid minimizes the water-vapor pressure so water management ia the cell is not difficult. The porous matrix used to retain the acid is usually sihcon carbide SiC, and the electrocatalyst ia both the anode and cathode is mainly Pt. 

There are situations where thermal oxidation may be preferred over catalytic oxidation for exhaust streams that contain significant amounts of catalyst poisons and/or fouling agents, thermal oxidation may be the only technically feasible control where extremely high VOC destmction efficiencies of difficult to control VOC species are required, thermal oxidation may attain higher performance and for relatively rich VOC waste gas streams, ie, having >20 25% lower explosive limit (LEL), the gas stream s explosive properties and the potential for catalyst overheating may require the addition of dilution air to the waste gas stream (12). 

Another important difference in the poison formation reaction is observed when studying this reaction on Pt(lll) electrodes covered with different adatoms. On Pt(lll) electrodes covered with bismuth, the formation of CO ceased at relatively high coverages only when isolated Pt sites were found on the surface [Herrero et al., 1993]. For formic acid, the formation takes place only at defects thus, small bismuth coverages are able to stop poison formation [Herrero et al., 1993 Macia et al., 1999]. Thus, an ideal Pt(lll) electrode would form CO from methanol but not from formic acid. This important difference indicates that the mechanism proposed in (6.17) is not vahd. It should be noted that the most difhcult step in the oxidation mechanism of methanol is probably the addition of the oxygen atom required to yield CO2. In the case of formic acid, this step is not necessary, since the molecule has already two oxygen atoms. For that reason, the adatoms that enhance formic acid oxidation, such as bismuth or palladium, do not show any catalytic effect for methanol oxidation. 

Davis 69) found no considerable variation in the o-xylene versus ethylbenzene ratio as a function of hydrogen pressure. He also observed that the relative amount of o-xylene from n-octane increased (a) with decreasing Pt loading of the catalyst (70) b) with increasing tin addition 69, 7J) (c) with the poisoning of the catalyst with thiophene (77) and d) if octenes or octynes... 

PEM fuel cells operate at relatively low temperatures, around 80°C. Low temperature operation allows them to start quickly (less warm-up time) and results in less wear on system components, resulting in better durability. However, they require that a noble-metal catalyst (typically platinum) be used to separate the hydrogen s electrons and protons, adding to system cost. The platinum catalyst is also extremely sensitive to CO poisoning, making it necessary to employ an additional reactor to reduce CO in the fuel gas if the hydrogen is derived from an alcohol or hydrocarbon fuel. This also adds cost. Developers are currently exploring platinum/ruthenium catalysts that are more resistant to CO. 

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