Adding sodium to an atmospheric reactor filled with liquid ammonia

[evdbroek]

I'm looking for a safe altenative to add several kiligrams of solid sodium to a batch reactor filled with ammonia (-33°C).
Currently the operator is adding several bars of sodium through a manhole.
We would like to have a closed system, but without the risk sodium is left behind or gets chopped of by a valve.
All suggestions are welcome!

 

[ash9144]

Melt the sodium and add in molten form.

 

[StoneCold]

evdbroek
We add items to sealed reactors all the time.
We use a feed bomb method. Most of the time the material added is either a powder or smaller chunks than the 1kg bricks you are using.
The feed bomb is just an enclosed hopper with a valve on the bottom that can be opened to the reactor. Some of them are pressure rated, some are not.
Some have just a snug fitting lid and nitrogen purge port to purge the feed bomb before opening it to the reactor. (The reactor is always vented down to zero psig before opening the valve on the feed bomb)
In the situation we have with sodium bricks we put the bricks in first, then add the solvent (we don't use ammonia). Then we heat the bricks up to their melting point and stir them into a fine dispersion.

I hope this is helpful for you.

Regards
StoneCold

 

[dogtop]

contact Larry Fetzer at DuPont by e-mail or call 1-716-278-5378.