Adsorption tests of water vapor on synthetic zeolites for an atmospheric detritiation dryer

Tritiated hydrogen and hydrocarbon are usually oxidized to a tritiated water vapor to make the tritium adsorbable and easy to treat. The adsorption system as a subsequent process plays an important role in a tritium recovery and its performance affects the overall detritiation efficiency significantly. In order to quantify an adsorbent's utilization and its dynamic capacity against an inlet humidity and a flow rate, a series of quantitative tests based on the breakthrough behavior were carried out in an isothermal fixed bed of synthetic zeolites such as molecular sieve 4A, 5A, 13X and mordenite. The amount of water vapor breaking during the adsorption was estimated to provide a breakthrough capacity at the various inlet flow rates and humidity conditions. The molecular sieve 13X exhibited a better adsorption performance at a given bed height. The existence of CO2 in a humid atmosphere had a minor effect on the net adsorption capacity and the hydrogen isotopic water (HDO) in the elution stream showed a delayed behavior during a thermal desorption.