ON THE MECHANISM OF CARBON-MONOXIDE RADIOLYSIS IN AN H-2-CO MIXTURE

The kinetics and the mechanism of carbon monoxide decomposition during the radiolysis of CO-H, gas mixtures were specified. The volume fraction of hydrogen isotopes was more than 97%. Tritium was the radiation source. The influence of tritium concentration, gas mixture pressure, and reaction vessel volume on the rate of CO radiolysis at room temperature was studied. The kinetics of CO radiolysis is described by the first-order rate law up to the conversion degrees of 0.5-0.8. The partial radiation yield g(-CO) varies from 3 to 120 molecules per 100 eV. It was established that g(-CO) depends slightly on the gas mixture pressure at pressures lower than similar to 0.1 MPa and increases more than by an order of magnitude when the pressure rises from 0.1 to 6 MPa.