Oxidation of hydrogen isotopes over honeycomb catalysts

Abstract

In the process of development of D–T fusion power reactors, recovery of tritium released into the last confinement system would be a key issue related to safety. If an accidental leakage of tritium takes place in a fusion power plant, a large volume of air should be detritiated with an air cleanup system (ACS). In ACS, tritium gas is converted to tritiated water vapor with a catalyst bed, and then which is recovered with an adsorption bed. In this study, the authors examined the applicability of honeycomb-type catalysts to ACS. A screening test of catalysts for oxidation of hydrogen and deuterium was performed using various honeycomb-type and pebble-type catalysts. Experimental results reveal that a honeycomb-type catalyst possesses a high oxidation performance for oxidation of hydrogen isotopes. Furthermore, the isotope effect on the oxidation of hydrogen isotopes over the honeycomb-type catalyst was thoroughly examined and quantified using tritium.