Technology of Heavy Water Production by Freezing

The freezing technology for producing heavy water is proposed. The technology is based on a significant coefficient of hydrogen isotopes separation in the process of freezing. The principle of column crystallization and melting of ice along the height of the distillation column is used, which makes it possible to obtain a high concentration of deuterium at a still not very high column height. The physical and mathematical models of the column crystallization are considered with the determination of the method for calculating the deuterium concentration along the height of the column. The technology is particularly promising in combining the production of heavy water with desalination-separation of salt water by freezing, when already obtained pure ice desalination is used in the heavy water concentrator even before its melting. This significantly reduces the energy and capital costs of its production.