Collection of Czechoslovak Chemical Communications - digital archive 

Abstract

The catalytical activity of the BASF K-3-10 catalyst for the low-temperature conversion of carbon monoxide by water vapour has been studied in dependence on the activity of incorporated radionuclide ³²P. Radioactivity of the catalytical bed ranged from 0 to 630 MBq of incorporated ³²P. It has been observed that at first the catalytical activity increases with the increasing activity of ³²P and finally it reaches a limit value that is by about 50 per cent higher than that of the same non-radioactive catalyst. The comparison of these results with those obtained in the studies of the catalytical activity of the same catalyst pre-irradiated by β radiation of the ⁹⁰Sr-⁹⁰Y source revealed that in the case of radioactive beds the observed positive radiation-catalytical effect can be ascribed to the pre-irradiation of the catalyst (during the period between the preparation of the radioactive catalytical bed and the catalytical reduction itself) and to the interactions of the ionizing radiation with the catalyst during the subsequent operations. The radiation-catalytical effects induced by the two processes mentioned above differ substantially by their time stability. The probable explanation of the nature of these two effects is proposed using the published mechanism of this reaction.