Experimental study of hydrogen fluoride adsorption on sodium fluoride

In uranium conversion industry, the fluorine is used as chemical raw material gas to produce UF4 and UF6 while its purity is very important. In this study, the adsorption process of hydrogen fluoride, as an impurity in the process of fluorine production, on sodium fluoride pellets is experimentally studied in a lab-scale fixed bed adsorbent. Also, the effects of some operating parameters including inlet concentration and inlet temperature of hydrogen fluoride are precisely investigated on the adsorption process. The data of adsorption are analyzed and correlated by Langmuir, Freundlich and Temkin isotherms. The adsorption capacity is found to be 1.908 and 0.750 g HF/g NaF by the Langmuir isotherm at 22 and 54 °C, respectively. The favorability nature of adsorption which is expressed in terms of a dimensionless separation factor (RL) is found to be more than 1 which indicates an unfavorable adsorption. In addition, the data analysis shows that the Langmuir and Temkin isotherms correlate the equilibrium isotherms better than that of Freundlich.