Chromatographic methods for separation and monitoring of hydrogen isotopes

Gas-Chromatographic methods can be used for diagnostic/quantitative analysis and to validate adsorption and mass-transfer models to be used for the scale-up and modeling of more complex separation processes involving the same adsorbent material and the same gas-mixture. An extensive experimental research has been carried out by gas-chromatographic runs in order to identify the most suitable absorbent and determine the optimal operations for the selective separation in real time (less than 10 min) of the six isotopic forms of hydrogen (H2, D2, T2, HD, HT, DT). This is one of the main requirements of Next European Torus (NET) project for D-T fusion reactors. Another objective of this research is the separation of DT/T2 binary mixtures in less than 10 min according to Joint European Tokamak (JET) project specifications. Modified mordenites of the zeolite family have been experimentally investigated in a wide range of temperatures and the results of chromatographic experiments are reported and discussed here