ZEOLITE CHARACTERIZATION TESTING

The Savannah River Site isolates tritium from its process streams for eventual recycling. This is done by catalyzing the formation of tritiated water (from process streams) and then sorbing that water on a 3A zeolite (molsieve) bed. The tritium is recovered by regenerating the saturated bed into a Mg-based water cracking unit. The process described has been in use for about 15 years. Recently chloride stress corrosion cracking (SCC) was noted in the system piping. This has resulted in the need to replace the corroded piping and associated molecular sieve beds. The source of chlorine has been debated and one possible source is the zeolite itself. Since new materials are being purchased for recently fabricated beds, a more comprehensive analysis protocol for characterizing zeolite has been developed. Tests on archived samples indicate the potential for mobile chloride species to be generated in the zeolite beds