Solution of the diffusion equations in a gas centrifuge for separation of multicomponent mixtures

The demand for stable isotopes in physical and chemical research and in medical diagnostics is growing, and the gas centrifuge process is able to provide large quantities of stable isotopes. A set of diffusion equations describing separation in a gas centrifuge for a multicomponent mixture is established. These equations involve general diffusion coefficients. Using the radial averaging method and the simplified diffusion transport vector for a multicomponent isotopic mixture, non-linear partial differential equations are transformed to a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. An iteration method for the solution is presented. The relationship between the separation factor and the mass difference, γ_ij = γ_o^Mj, is shown to be in agreement with both the computational and the experimental results with very high precision.