Statement of the problem or situation that is being addressed. In current (and future) fusion power plant designs, DT fuel burning efficiency is around 1% so that highly efficient and reliable recovery and recycle is necessary as part of the fusion fuel cycle. In the exhaust gas, for instance, recovering tritium from the plasma enhancement gases, He purge gas, and unburned fuel gases is a considerable challenge given the modest size and chemical difference between the components. Membrane based approaches have received considerable attention, since they offer advantages, such as continuous operation, high extraction efficiency, modularity, simple operation (=safer operation), and modest footprint. Inorganic membranes, particularly palladium alloy, zeolite, and carbon molecular sieves, offer excellent performance stability and chemical resistance at the required high operating temperatures and hence are ideal choices for applications in the fusion reactor fuel cycle. They are highly robust and performance stable and would be expected to be highly reliable in the fusion fuel cycle. However, the inorganic membranes targeted for applications in this area are not commercially available and/or commercially viable in the current package configurations. Though inorganic membranes have been pursued actively in the academic and research institutes with regard to their performance and synthesis, the large scale, consistent production of these advanced inorganic membranes, and their module configuration under the application environment remains unavailable. To develop a realistic pathway on the use of inorganic membranes requires a dedicated effort of current commercial inorganic membrane manufacturers to develop a product specifically for the tritium fuel cycle. Statement of how this problem or situation is being addressed. Media and Process Technology Inc (MPT), a US-based ceramic membrane manufacturer, has been developing in parallel these advanced inorganic gas separation membranes and the required underlying high performance supports. This combined effort has resulted in a breakthrough in commercial viability of these novel membranes in not only fusion fuel recovery/recycle but an enormous range of industrially important gas and vapor separations. What is being done in Phase I? In this project, the focus is (i) to scale up palladium alloy membrane technology based upon MPTs recent breakthroughs in ultrathin layer deposition and high surface area full ceramic package design and (ii) to conduct challenge testing at conditions consistent with DT recovery from fusion plasma exhaust gas. Process design, optimization, and TEA development will be conducted, and the results will inform the program technical approach in the Phase II fabrication scaleup, field demonstration testing, and commercialization pathway. Commercial Applications and Benefits? Advanced inorganic membranes as asymmetric ultrathin films on high performance high packing density full ceramic supports can be used in a wide range of industrial H2 separation and purification applications. This project focusses on the use of this membrane technology in the fusion fuel cycle, but this new membrane technology has far reaching implications for the production of clean zero-carbon power and chemicals.
