Application of gas separation membranes to detritiation systems Original Research Article

The use of gas separation membranes in tritium removal systems has been studied to develop a new detritiation process. The main advantage of this new process is to reduce the number and/or the size of equipments in comparison to conventional detritiation systems. The objective of this study is to choose the best suited membrane for this application. The hydrogen or its isotopes recovery performance of several commercial hollow fiber organic membranes has been analyzed thanks to three devices. Experiments are performed with small quantities of hydrogen gas or deuterium gas or tritium gas in the range representative of the radioactive contamination level in tritium handling gloveboxes. A mathematical model has been developed to simulate the separation of gas mixtures. With help of experimental results, it will allow to evaluate precisely the efficiency of this new detritiation method and to design an industrial prototype.