Investigation of simultaneous tritium and deuterium transfer in a catalytic isotope exchange column for water detritiation

A catalytic isotope exchange facility for water detritiation is operated at the Tritium Laboratory Karlsruhe (TLK) in order to investigate the simultaneous transfer of tritium and deuterium between various molecular hydrogen isotopes and deuteriated/tritiated water. Four catalyst-packing combinations from different manufacturers (SCK-CEN Belgium, Mendeleev University Russia, Institute of Cryogenics and Isotopic Technologies (ICIT) Romania-TLK, Showa Eng. Japan) are currently being tested. Experiments have been performed to determine the height equivalent of theoretical plate (HETP) and the mass transfer coefficients during deuterium, tritium or simultaneous deuterium and tritium exchange between deuteriated and tritiated water and gaseous hydrogen isotopes. In the simultaneously tritium and deuterium transfer experiments, both the transfer of tritium and deuterium from liquid to gas and the transfer of tritium from liquid to gas and deuterium in the opposite direction from gas to liquid was investigated.