Thermochemistry of binary Na-NaH and ternary Na-O-H systems and the kinetics of reaction of hydrogen/water with liquid sodium - A review

A review of the literature data on the binary Na-H and ternary Na-O-H systems has been carried out. Influence of dissolved oxygen on Sieverts' constant for hydrogen in sodium is analysed and an expression for the variation of Sieverts' constant with oxygen concentration is derived. Data on equilibrium hydrogen partial pressures over Na(1)NaH(s) phase mixtures are assessed and an expression for variation of Gibbs energy of formation of NaH(s) with temperature is obtained. Analysis of the phase diagram and thermochemical information on the ternary Na-O-H system has been carried out. Kinetics of the reaction of water/steam and gaseous hydrogen with liquid sodium are also presented and the need to resolve the disagreement among the literature data is brought out. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.