Acid generation upon thermal concentration of natural water: the critical water content and the effects of ionic composition.

Thermal evaporation of a variety of simulated pore waters from the region of Yucca Mountain, Nevada, produced acidic liquids and gases during the final stages of evaporation. Several simulated pore waters were prepared and then thermally distilled in order to collect and analyze fractions of the evolved vapor. In some cases, distillates collected towards the end of the distillation were highly acidic; in other cases the pH of the distillate remained comparatively unchanged during the course of the distillation. The results suggest that the pH values of the later fractions are determined by the initial composition of the water. Acid production stems from the hydrolysis of magnesium ions, especially at near dryness. Near the end of the distillation, magnesium nitrate and magnesium chloride begin to lose water of hydration, greatly accelerating their thermal decomposition to form acid. Acid formation is promoted further when precipitated calcium carbonate is removed. Specifically, calcium chloride-rich pore waters containing moderate (10-20 ppm) levels of magnesium and nitrate and low levels of bicarbonate produced mixtures of nitric and hydrochloric acid, resulting in a precipitous drop in pH to values of 1 or lower after about 95% of the original volume was distilled. Waters with either low or moderate magnesium content coupled with high levels of bicarbonate produced slightly basic fractions (pH 7-9). If calcium was present in excess of bicarbonate, waters containing moderate levels of magnesium produced acid even in the presence of bicarbonate, due to the precipitation of calcium carbonate. Other salts such as halite and anhydrite promote the segregation of acidic vapors from residual basic solids. The concomitant release of wet acid gas has implications for the integrity of the alloys under consideration for containers at the Yucca Mountain nuclear waste repository. Condensed acid gases at very low pH, especially mixtures of nitric and hydrochloric acid, are capable of corroding even alloys, such as nickel-based Alloy 22, which are considered to be corrosion-resistant under milder conditions.

Composition and particle size of superparamagnetic corrosion products in tap water.

Chemical analyses, magnetization, Mössbauer spectrum, and x-ray diffraction measurements were made on solids removed from tap water by means of membrane filters. The taps from which this water was obtained had previously been unused for prolonged periods of time. When these taps were reactivated and water was first drawn, it was observed that the quantity of coarse solids in the water gradually decreased with flow, while at the same time the quantity of fine solids gradually increased. The magnetization, Mössbauer spectra, and x-ray diffraction patterns of the solids showed the presence of a significant number of superparamagnetic particles of magnetite. In the temperature range of our measurements (77 K

Structural Distortions in Six-Coordinate Adducts of Niobium(V) and Tantalum(V).

The mixed chloro-aryloxide compounds [M(OC(6)H(3)Pr(i)(2)-2,6)(2)Cl(3)](2) (M = Nb (1a), Ta (1b); both structurally characterized) and [M(OC(6)H(3)Pr(i)(2)-2,6)(3)Cl(2)] (M = Nb (2a), Ta (2b)) react with pyridine (py) and PMe(2)Ph to produce a series of adducts cis-mer-[MCl(3)(OC(6)H(3)Pr(i)(2)-2,6)(2)(L)] (M, L: Nb, py (3a); Ta, py (3b); Nb, PMe(2)Ph (4a); Ta, PMe(2)Ph (4b)) and trans-mer-[MCl(2)(OC(6)H(3)Pr(i)(2)-2,6)(3)(L)] (M, L: Nb, py (5); Nb, PMe(2)Ph (6a); Ta, PMe(2)Ph (6b)). The assigned geometric arrangement of ligands is based upon (1)H NMR studies and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses of 3a, 3b, 4, 6a, and 6b. The salt complex [HPMe(2)Ph](+)[mer-NbCl(3)(OC(6)H(3)Pr(i)(2)-2,6)(3)](-) (7) has also been isolated and structurally characterized. The structural parameters for the neutral adducts are compared with those of previously reported hydrido aryloxides of tantalum. A small but consistent distortion away from octahedral geometry involving the bending of mutually trans anionic ligands toward the neutral donor group is observed. Theoretical analysis at several levels of theory (RHF, MP2, and DFT) on model compounds [Ta(OH)(2)(H)(2)(PH(3))(X)] (X = Cl, OH, H) show a distortion involving bending of the trans-hydride groups toward the PH(3) ligand for X = Cl and OH. This distortion can be accounted for in terms of an improvement in both X p to metal d pi-bonding and Ta-H sigma-bonding. The contribution of sigma-bonding effects is clearly shown in the case of X = H, where again a bend of the two hydride ligands toward the Ta-P bond is calculated. A smaller distortion of the Cl ligands in trans-mer-[Ta(OH)(3)(Cl)(2)(PH(3))] is also predicted.