Abstract

This research promotes the application of molten salts through developing analytical tools in electroanalytical studies and in the data analysis of vapor pressure data. The electrochemical community lacks standardized, stable, and repeatable reference electrode designs which threaten the reliability of measured thermophysical properties and repeatability of published studies. This work confirms the application of a saturated reference electrode design for molten chlorides systems that outperforms traditional Ag+/Ag reference electrodes. In the field of thermal physical property measurements, vapor pressure data for chloride salts are diffused throughout the literature, uncertainty quantification is absent or limited, and all previous studies rely on linear regressions on transformed data. These practices impede future studies as it is difficult to discern gaps in the literature, data reliability is unclear, and linear models may contain unaccounted error. Utilizing lanthanide and actinide vapor pressure data, this dissertation leverages thermodynamic and graphical qualification methods to integrate representative data sets into predictive models directly without data transformation. Visual uncertainty predictions accompany all reported vapor pressure models. Finally, with the advent of advanced nuclear reactors, it is the responsibility of the nuclear community to develop new reprocessing strategies to reduce the volume and toxicity of new types of used nuclear fuel to reduce the societal burden of handling this waste. To this end, this dissertation details a proof-of-concept study on a novel solventless two-step chloride volatility process (TSCV) for reprocessing advanced new fuel. TSCV exhibits viable separation rates, but process yields currently plateau at approximately 20%, necessitating further investigation.

Degree

PhD

College and Department

Ira A. Fulton College of Engineering; Chemical Engineering

Rights

https://lib.byu.edu/about/copyright/