Development and testing of lab-scale atmospheric molecular sieve bed with zeolite 4A adsorbent

Abstract

Tritium Extraction System (TES) is one of the most important systems of fusion blanket. The two basic systems of TES are Atmospheric Molecular Sieve Bed (AMSB) and Cryogenic Molecular Sieve Bed (CMSB). AMSB removes ppm levels of water vapour (Q2O), while CMSB removes hydrogen isotopes (Q2), oxygen, and nitrogen from helium purge gas. Though detailed parametric study of AMSB is very important for fuel cycle technology, such studies are very limited. In this work, a lab-scale AMSB is designed and developed at Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, using Zeolites 4A as an adsorbent material. Experimental break through curves for the adsorption of various concentrations of moisture (H2O) (up to ∼20,000 ppm) at flow rates (1–3 NLPM) from helium gas at room temperature have been generated and compared with theoretical estimation. Adsorption capacity of lab scale AMSB has been estimated at various operating conditions. The effects of the initial moisture concentrations and flow rates on breakthrough curves are studied in detail.