Preparation of Highly Enriched Carbon−13 by Thermal Diffusion of Methane

Abstract

Methane, enriched to 93% in ¹³C, was prepared by thermal diffusion in an 11‐column, nine‐stage isotope separation cascade. The experimental thermal‐diffusion cascade was successfully operated at essentially steady‐state conditions after a transient period of 292 days. Behavior of the cascade during steady operation was found to be in good agreement with the predictions of binary cascade theory.