Review of Catalytic Hydrogen Generation in the Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) Chemical Processing Cell

This report was prepared to fulfill the Phase I deliverable for HLW/DWPF/TTR-98-0018, Rev. 2, ''Hydrogen Generation in the DWPF Chemical Processing Cell'', 6/4/2001. The primary objective for the preliminary phase of the hydrogen generation study was to complete a review of past data on hydrogen generation and to prepare a summary of the findings. The understanding was that the focus should be on catalytic hydrogen generation, not on hydrogen generation by radiolysis. The secondary objective was to develop scope for follow-up experimental and analytical work. The majority of this report provides a summary of past hydrogen generation work with radioactive and simulated Savannah River Site (SRS) waste sludges. The report also includes some work done with Hanford waste sludges and simulants. The review extends to idealized systems containing no sludge, such as solutions of sodium formate and formic acid doped with a noble metal catalyst. This includes general information from the literature, as well as the focused study done by the University of Georgia for the SRS. The various studies had a number of points of universal agreement. For example, noble metals, such as Pd, Rh, and Ru, catalyze hydrogen generation from formic acid and formate ions, and more acid leads to more hydrogen generation. There were also some points of disagreement between different sources on a few topics such as the impact of mercury on the noble metal catalysts and the identity of the most active catalyst species. Finally, there were some issues of potential interest to SRS that apparently have not been systematically studied, e.g. the role of nitrite ion in catalyst activation and reactivity. The review includes studies covering the period from about 1924-2002, or from before the discovery of hydrogen generation during simulant sludge processing in 1988 through the Shielded Cells qualification testing for Sludge Batch 2. The review of prior studies is followed by a discussion of proposed experimental work, additional data analysis, and future modeling programs. These proposals have led to recent investigations into the mercury issue and the effect of co-precipitating noble metals which will be documented in two separate reports. SRS hydrogen generation work since 2002 will also be collected and summarized in a future report on the effect of noble metal-sludge matrix interactions on hydrogen generation. Other potential factors for experimental investigation include sludge composition variations related to both the washing process and to the insoluble species with particular attention given to the role of silver and to improving the understanding of the interaction of nitrite ion with the noble metals