Protium removal from deuterium-tritium mixture with displacement chromatography method: Experiments and simulations

• Published in: International journal of hydrogen energy 2019-02, Vol.44 (7), p.3824-3833
• Main Authors: Liu, Yuting, Wu, Wenqing, Xiong, Yifu, Zhang, Guanghui, Wei, Yongjun, Fang, Manquan, Tang, Tao
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Displacement chromatography; Experiment; Hydrogen isotope separation; Numerical simulation; Tritium
• ISSN: 0360-3199; 1879-3487
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.11.230

The displacement chromatography technique with a tri-column system was used to reduce the protium (H) in the deuterium-tritium (D-T) mixture, and the separation performance was studied numerically by ANSYS FLUENT. The experimental results showed that the isotopic abundance of H in the D-T mixture dropped from 2.7% to an acceptable level of 0.88%. The simulation results showed that a lower porosity (θ) of the filling material made a higher separation factor, but a lower separation efficiency. The velocity of the product gas at the outlet of the separation column approximately had a linear relationship with θ5/3/(1-θ)2, which partly indicated the pore diffusion resistance. The mixed gas could contact the filling materials more sufficiently under a lower flow rate resulting in a lower protium concentration in the product gas. The separation column with a thin and long shape had a better separation performance and a lower product gas loss. •Hydrogen isotope separation experiments with tritium are conducted.•ANSYS FLUENT is used to predict isotopic abundances of H, D, and T after separation.•Lower filling material porosity and gas flow rate make a higher separation factor.•Separation of H-D is much easier than separation of D-T.•Thin and long column has better separation performance and lower product gas loss.