Effects of thermodynamic properties of hydrogen isotopes on separation characteristics of cryogenic distillation columns

The principal objective of this report is to investigate the effects of thermodynamic properties of hydrogen isotopes such as the vapor-liquid equilibrium relation, the latent heat of vaporization, the specific heat of gas and liquid, and so on, on separation characteristics of cryogenic distillation columns. It was revealed that Raoult's law deviation of the solutions of hydrogen isotopes has relatively large effects while the other thermodynamic variables have relatively minor effects. Simulation with the assumption of Raoult's law is expected to fail to make exact prediction of the quantity of the infinitesimal amount of element in the output streams. This report points out the importance of incorporation of Raoult's law deviation and decay heat of tritium in the simulation model. In addition, the experimental studies for more accurate vapor-liquid equilibrium data are to be continued for the time being. (author)