Synthesis of water and molecular oxygen highly enriched in ¹⁷O and ¹⁸O isotopes from carbon oxides

The reaction of carbon oxides and hydrogen in the presence of the Raney nickel catalyst has been used for water synthesis. A procedure has been developed for the recovery and collection of the synthesized water with minimal losses and without deteriorating the O-17 or O-18 isotope enrichment as compared to the initial CO2 and CO. The recovery of oxygen with high concentrations of O-17 and O-18 isotopes is based on the reaction of xenon difluoride with water. The yield based on oxygen achieves 99% without reduction of isotope enrichment, which is confirmed by mass-spectral measurements of oxygen isotope concentrations in the initial reagents and final reaction products.