Parametric effects and rate-limiting mechanism analysis of tritium extraction process in permeator against vacuum

Abstract

Achieving high-efficiency tritium extraction represents a significant engineering challenge in the context of liquid breeder blanket concepts. The present paper focuses on the permeator against vacuum technology, establishing three-dimensional transport models and one-dimensional analytical models for tritium transport in liquid lithium-lead and permeation membranes. A quantitative comparison of the differences in tritium extraction efficiency calculated by the two models is made through systematic parametric scans of key variables such as inlet flow velocity, temperature, pipe length, and membrane material. The findings suggest that a reduction in the inlet flow velocity of liquid lithium-lead, an increase in temperature, an extension in pipe length, and the utilisation of highly permeable membrane materials can enhance the tritium extraction efficiency. It is evident that, based on the dimensionless number termed ξ which has been derived from the one-dimensional analytical formulation, three distinct physical regimes and their transition boundaries are identified,this provides qualitative guidance for the optimisation of engineering design.