Simultaneous Absorption and Desorption Isotherms of Various Hydrogen and Deuterium Mixtures between 20 and 120 °C Are Used to Determine the Activity Coefficients for Palladium-Hydride Solutions

A test bed was constructed to measure the absorption and desorption isotherms for palladium hydride using H₂, D₂, and various H₂/D₂ mixtures for temperatures in the range 20 °C ≤ <i>T</i> ≤ 120 °C. The pressure-composition-temperature isotherms were measured. The pressures obtained with mixtures between each pure isotope were monotonic, yet nonlinear. This nonlinear dependence of total pressure with feed gas protium concentration reveals the mixed isotope hydride system behaves nonideally. A thermodynamic model was adapted from the literature, which accounts for the nonideal nature of the mixed-isotope system. The measured data were used as constraints in this model in order to calculate the protium mole fractions in the hydride phase and the protium activity coefficients for palladium hydride at various temperatures and protium concentrations in the system. Knowing the protium mole fraction and activity coefficients allows for <i>a priori</i> calculation of the isotopologue distribution in the gas phase and the isotope distribution in the hydride phase, given a palladium temperature and equilibrium pressure.