absorption of hydrogen from inert gas by gas circulation system with yttrium particle bed

Selective absorption and recovery of hydrogen isotopes in an inert gas stream is a necessary operation in a fuel cycle of a D-T fusion reactor, especially for the recovery of tritium from an inert gas atmosphere in a tritium-handling glove-box. Yttrium particles are promising materials to be used in the recovery system of hydrogen isotopes from circulating gas because of very low equilibrium pressures of hydrogen, and thus an experimental and analytical investigation was made using their samples of 80 to 120 mesh. A tank made of stainless steel with a volume of 45.2 liter was used in a gas circulating system instead of a glove-box. Many breakthrough curves were obtained experimentally between 500-950°C. The results obtained here may be also used for the engineering design concerning the D-T fuel cycle.