Girdler sulfide process
The Girdler sulfide (GS) process, also known as the Geib–Spevack (GS) process, is an industrial production method for filtering out of natural water the heavy water (deuterium oxide = D2O) which is used in particle research, in Deuterium NMR spectroscopy, deuterated solvents for proton NMR spectroscopy, in heavy water nuclear reactors (as a coolant and moderator) and in deuterated drugs.
Karl-Hermann Geib and Jerome S. Spevack independently, and in parallel, invented the process in 1943 and its name derives from the Girdler company, which built the first American plant using the process.
The method is an isotopic exchange process between H2S and H2O ("light" water), that produces heavy water over several steps. It is a highly energy intensive process.Seawater contains 180 parts per million of D2O.
Until its closure in 1997, the Bruce Heavy Water Plant in Ontario (close to the Bruce Nuclear Generating Station) was the world's largest heavy water production plant, with a capacity of 700 tonnes per year. It used the Girdler sulfide process to produce heavy water, and required 340,000 tonnes (370,000 short tons) of feed water to produce 1 tonne (1.1 short tons) of heavy water.
The first such facility of India's Heavy Water Board to use the Girdler process is at Rawatbhata near Kota, Rajasthan, other plants exist in the United States and Romania for example.
Each of a number of steps consists of two sieve tray columns. One column is maintained at 30 °C and is called the cold tower and the other at 130 °C and is called the hot tower. The enrichment process is based on the difference in separation between 30 °C and 130 °C.
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