Techno-Economic Analysis of Gas-Liquid Contactors for Tritium Extraction from Lead-Lithium

To enable a sustainable fuel cycle, any deuterium-tritium fusion reactor must breed its tritium fuel onsite. Lead-lithium (PbLi), a eutectic metal, is a leading liquid breeder material for tritium generation. One challenge with PbLi blanket technology is the extraction of tritium from the molten eutectic. Three technologies are the focus of worldwide research: the vacuum permeator, the vacuum sieve tray, and the gas-liquid contactor (GLC).

The present work offers a methodology for designing, sizing, optimizing, and costing a trickle-bed GLC for tritium extraction from PbLi. The traditional packed bed mass transfer coefficient and film theory models are applied to experimental data from the MELODIE experiments. Analysis revealed that traditional packed bed mass transfer models do not match the MELODIE loop experimental data regardless of the PbLi tritium solubility value used (Rieter versus Aiello). However, the film theory liquid mass transfer coefficient, Delt-Olujic wettability model, and Reiter tritium solubility values fit the MELODIE data best and were utilized for both the design and the economic analysis.

A techno-economic analysis of the GLC was conducted to evaluate three design sizes, all of which achieved a minimum extraction efficiency of 90%. A 325-fold increase in the sweeping gas flow rate is required to achieve the same target extraction efficiency at the same packing height when using the tritium solubility values of Aiello, compared to those of Reiter.