APPLICATION OF MEMBRANE DEHUMIDIFIER FOR GASEOUS TRITIUM RECOVERY IN THE LHD

In order to realize the planned deuterium plasma experiments using the Large Helical Device (LHD), the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS) is planning to install a system for tritium recovery from exhaust gas. While adopting typical tritium recovery systems, NIFS has also made plans for the development of a compact reduced-waste recovery system by applying a membrane type dehumidifier. A commercially available membrane dehumidifier was evaluated experimentally for this purpose with the results indicating such a membrane is feasible for practical application. A small scale test apparatus having a capacity 1/10(th) (30 m(3)/h) that of the actual tritium recovery system with the same flow control system was constructed and its performance evaluated.