Inventors:
Jimmie R. McDonald - Upper Marlboro MD
Andrew P. Baronavski - Alexandria VA
Assignee:
The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy - Washington DC
International Classification:
B01D 5900
Abstract:
A method of separating and concentrating the. sup. 15 N isotope from natural abundance nitric oxide (NO) comprising mixing natural abundance nitric oxide in an appropriate mole ratio with carbon dioxide (CO. sub. 2); irradiating the NO--CO. sub. 2 mixture with coherent laser light of a desired wavelength, thereby selectively exciting the nitric oxide species containing the. sup. 15 N isotope, which subsequently reacts with the carbon dioxide to form nitrogen dioxide (. sup. 15 NO. sub. 2); and separating said nitrogen dioxide (. sup. 15 NO. sub. 2) from the gas mixture.