Work

Verification of vacuum regeneration for cryogenic molecular sieve bed

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Cryogenic adsorption, referred to as Cryogenic Molecular Sieve Bed (CMSB), is one of the technologies capable of purifying and recovering helium-3 produced in tritium storage systems. In typical adsorption process using temperature swing adsorption, the regeneration step to remove impurities adsorbed on the adsorption bed is performed by heating and purging with either a portion of the product gas or an inert gas. To enhance the recovery efficiency and purity of helium-3, vacuum regeneration can be employed as an alternative to gas purging. This study evaluated the applicability of the vacuum regeneration for CMSB in the helium-3 recovery system. The adsorption performance of the two regeneration methods, gas purging and vacuum regeneration, was compared experimentally. Vacuum regeneration was confirmed to be reliable and demonstrated comparable performance to the gas purging method.

Source: Fusion Engineering and Design

DOI: 10.1016/j.fusengdes.2025.115410

Authors: Pil-Kap Jung, Hyun-Goo Kang, Min Ho Chang, Jea-Uk Lee, Dong-you Chung, Junyoung Hur

Institution: Korea Institute of Fusion Energy

Language: English

Topic: Adsorption, diffusion, and thermodynamic properties of materials

Subfield: Spectroscopy

Field: Chemistry

Domain: Physical Sciences

SDG: Responsible consumption and production

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $2,810