Removal of Tritiated Water Vapor by Molecular Sieves 5A and 13X, Silica Gel and Activated Alumina

Abstract

The adsorption of tritiated water vapor on molecular sieves 5A and 13X, silica gel and activated alumina was investigated in the small column experiments. The results were analyzed by a simple first order kinetic equation. The adsorption characteristics of the adsorbents are rationalized by the two important parameters, maximum adsorption capacity and adsorption rate constant, which were determined at various temperatures for each adsorbents. The column exhaustion experiments were also carried out. An equation was derived to express the correlation between breakthrough time and column length. A reasonable consistency has been noticed between the calculated and the observed results.

KEYWORDS:

• tritiated water
• molecular sieve
• silica gel
• activated alumina
• adsorption column
• first order kinetic equation
• maximum adsorption capacity
• adsorption rate constant
• breakthrough curve
• tritium
• adsorbents