Hi Stephen,


I toyed with this idea a long time ago and eventually decided it's easier
and 'safer' to replace it using self-built reactor tubes (ceramic tubes
filled with a few Cu wires).

You are right, CuO decomposes at temperatures above 825C into Cu and oxygen.
I never tried that because I was worried what the oxygen might do to the
Nafion water trap. So, I plumbed in a hydrogen line into the He backflush
line similar to the way the O2 line is plumbed but on the downstream side
(toward the IRMS). It sort of worked but caused water breakthrough beyond
the Nafion tube. Given the choice between drying the capillaries and the
open-split with a heat-gun or spending less time replacing the reactor tube
with fresh one I made up earlier, I decided the latter was the way to go.


Regards,

Wolfram



> -----Original Message-----
> From: Stable Isotope Geochemistry 
> [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Stephen Taylor
> Sent: 26 July 2006 16:29
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: GCC reduction furnace rejuvenation
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> Quick question for GCC III users:
> 
> Is it possible to passively rejuvenate the reduction reactor 
> of a GCC III system?
> 
> I heard mention that heating it to 850 oC for short periods 
> of time will do the trick. Anyone have any 
> comments/experience/maintenance recipes?
> 
> Thanks,
> Steve
> 
> Stephen Taylor
> Lab Manager, Isotope Science Lab,
> University of Calgary, Physics & Astronomy, 2500 University Dr. N.W.
> Calgary, Alberta,
> Canada, T2N 1N4
> (p) 403 220 8268
> (f) 403 220 7773
> [log in to unmask]
> www.phas.ucalgary.ca/isl 
>