IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v14y2021i20p6832-d659598.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Separation of 3 He Isotope from Liquid Helium with the Use of Entropy Filter Composed of Carbon Nanotubes

Author

Listed:
  • Jakub Niechciał

    (Institute of Molecular Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 60-179 Poznań, Poland)

  • Wojciech Kempiński

    (Institute of Molecular Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 60-179 Poznań, Poland)

  • Leszek Stobiński

    (Faculty of Chemical and Process Engineering, Warsaw University of Technology, 00-645 Warszawa, Poland
    Nanomaterials, Leszek Stobinski, 03-337 Warsaw, Poland)

  • Zbigniew Trybuła

    (Institute of Molecular Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 60-179 Poznań, Poland)

  • Piotr Banat

    (Institute of Molecular Physics, Polish Academy of Sciences, 60-179 Poznań, Poland)

  • Maciej Chorowski

    (Department of Cryogenics and Aerospace Engineering, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland)

  • Jarosław Poliński

    (Department of Cryogenics and Aerospace Engineering, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wrocław, Poland)

  • Katarzyna Chołast

    (Polish Oil and Gas Company—Odolanów, 63-430 Odolanów, Poland)

  • Andrzej Kociemba

    (Polish Oil and Gas Company—Odolanów, 63-430 Odolanów, Poland)

Abstract

The 3 He isotope finds applications in many areas of science and industry, the most important of which are cryogenics, where 3 He allows for achieving millikelvins in dilution refrigerators, and public security with 3 He detectors of radioactive materials at airports and important buildings. 3 He is also used in medicine for lung tomography. One of the most extraordinary future applications is the use of 3 He in fusion reactors for clean energy. 3 He is currently very expensive, with prices reaching USD 2750 for 1 liter of gas in normal conditions; thus, more effort is put into finding economically viable methods to acquire this isotope. The article shows research results of acquiring the 3 He isotope from liquid helium by a quantum separation method with the use of entropy filters based on new carbon nanomaterials: purified multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and purified multiwall carbon nanotubes decorated with ZrO 2 nanoparticles. MWCNTs were bundled and applied in the form of pressed tablets with fixed sizes. The research was conducted at the low-temperature region, where helium exhibits its quantum properties by undergoing a phase transition to the superfluid phase at the lambda temperature: T λ = 2.18 K. Entropy filters work below this temperature.

Suggested Citation

  • Jakub Niechciał & Wojciech Kempiński & Leszek Stobiński & Zbigniew Trybuła & Piotr Banat & Maciej Chorowski & Jarosław Poliński & Katarzyna Chołast & Andrzej Kociemba, 2021. "Separation of 3 He Isotope from Liquid Helium with the Use of Entropy Filter Composed of Carbon Nanotubes," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-10, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:20:p:6832-:d:659598
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/20/6832/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/20/6832/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jakub Niechciał & Piotr Banat & Wojciech Kempiński & Zbigniew Trybuła & Maciej Chorowski & Jarosław Poliński & Katarzyna Chołast & Andrzej Kociemba, 2020. "Operational Costs of He3 Separation Using the Superfluidity of He4," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-11, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adam Jan Zwierzyński & Wojciech Teper & Rafał Wiśniowski & Andrzej Gonet & Tomasz Buratowski & Tadeusz Uhl & Karol Seweryn, 2021. "Feasibility Study of Low Mass and Low Energy Consumption Drilling Devices for Future Space (Mining Surveying) Missions," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-17, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:20:p:6832-:d:659598. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.