Abstract

Tritium plays a crucial role in nuclear fusion power plant designs, and adsorption beds are essential tools for managing tritiated water vapor. A series of tests was performed to investigate whether a saturated adsorption bed preferentially adsorbs heavy water vapor. The design of passive tritium control systems could potentially rely on adsorption beds preferentially trapping heavier isotopologues of water. This work investigates the displacement phenomenon and the effects of carrier gas superficial velocity on bed performance. Significant displacement was observed when a humid stream containing heavy water was diverted through a bed pre-saturated with light water, as indicated by changes in the partial pressures of D2O and H2O. Following the capture of heavy water in the bed, the subsequent rise in D2O partial pressure depended on both the superficial gas velocity and the heavy water humidity in the gas stream. Higher superficial velocities and humidities led to faster and steeper mass transfer profiles within the adsorption bed. In addition, light-water uptake experiments were conducted to evaluate overall bed efficiency, and the resulting breakthrough curves were fit using theoretical mass transfer coefficients and the linear driving force (LDF) model to characterize adsorption kinetics under standard operating conditions.

Publication Date

8-2026

Document Type

Thesis

Student Type

Graduate

Degree Name

Physics (MS)

Department, Program, or Center

Physics and Astronomy, School of

College

College of Science

Advisor

Walter Shmayda

Advisor/Committee Member

Michael Pierce

Advisor/Committee Member

Michael Kotlarchyk

Campus

RIT – Main Campus

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