Design, Fabrication, and Testing of Getter-Based Atmosphere Purification and Waste Treatment System for a Nitrogen-Hydrogen-Helium Glovebox

A system containing a combination of getters (Zr-Mn-Fe, SAES St909; and Zr₂Fe, SAES St198) was used to process the nitrogen-hydrogen-helium atmosphere in a glovebox used for handling metal tritide samples. During routine operations, the glovebox atmosphere is recirculated and hydrogenous impurities (i.e. CQ₄, Q₂O, and NQ₃, where Q [is equivalent to] H, D, T) are decomposed (cracked) and removed by Zr-Mn-Fe without absorbing elemental hydrogen isotopes. If the tritium content of the glovebox atmosphere becomes unacceptably high, the getter system can rapidly strip the glovebox atmosphere of all hydrogen isotopes by absorption on the Zr₂Fe, thus lessening the burden on the facility waste gas treatment system. The getter system was designed for high flowrate (> 100 l/min), which is achieved by using a honeycomb support for the getter pellets and 1.27-cm diameter tubing throughout the system for reduced pressure drop. The novel getter bed design also includes an integral preheater and copper liner to accommodate swelling of the getter pellets, which occurs during loading with oxygen and carbon impurities. Non-tritium functional tests were conducted to determine the gettering efficiencies at different getter bed temperatures and flowrates by recirculating gas through the system from a 6-m³ glovebox containing known concentrations of impurities.