Experts of New Chemical Products LLC carried out a complex of research works related to the processing of aqueous solutions of hydrogen fluoride (hydrofluoric acid) to obtain anhydrous hydrogen fluoride.
Hydrofluoric acid is an aqueous solution of hydrogen fluoride. The industry produces it in the form of 40%, as well as 50% and 72% solutions. The name is derived from fluorspar, from which hydrogen fluoride is obtained. The acid is toxic.
Hydrofluoric acid is formed as a by-product in many chemical plants. One of the examples is the technology developed by the French company Orano (Areva), based on high-temperature hydrolysis of DUHF with excess water. A by-product of this process is an azeotropic hydrofluoric acid, which can not be used in the nuclear fuel cycle to produce natural uranium fluorides.
Our company offers a non-waste technology for processing hydrofluoric acid to produce anhydrous hydrogen fluoride, based on the principle of high-temperature conversion of water vapor contained in hydrofluoric acid in the presence of a carbonaceous reductant. Such reducing agents can be solid carbon (graphite, coal, etc.), gaseous and liquid hydrocarbons, and their mixtures. The natural gas, methane, can be the most common and available reducing agent.
Due to the fact that the technologies for processing hydrofluoric acid with the production of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride in various plants can be more or less profitable depending on the specific conditions of access to certain resources, at present, specialists of New Chemical Products LLC conduct researches and develop technologies expanding the range of opportunities to solve this problem. It is proposed to use a number of other reagents to dehydrate the hydrofluoric acid and obtain anhydrous hydrogen fluoride. At the same time, special attention is paid to the low-waste feature of technologies offered.
