Continuous enrichment of hydrogen isotopes by two-dimensional gas chromatography

A two-dimensional gas chromatography was proposed for continuous purification of a large quantity of tritium gas. With a rotating circular column, H2 and D2 were mutually separated under the following conditions; flow rates of the feed gas, a mixture of H2 and D2 (1:1) and He carrier gas, were 100 mL/min and 5 L/min, respectively, the column rotation rate 6 π rad/h, and the column temperature 77K. The peak positions and the widths at half height calculated for the circular column based on the results with one-dimensional gas chromatograms were in fair agreement with those obtained from the experiments with the circular column. Applicability of the column to the enrichment of tritium is shown by computation of the peak positions and resolutions of H2, HT and T2. (author)