Tritium purification via zirconium-manganese-iron alloy getter st 909 in flow processes

A zirconium-manganese-iron alloy, St 909, was evaluated as a purifier in tritium handling, transport, and storage applications. High efficiency removal of CH{sub 4}, CO, CO{sub 2}, NH{sub 3}, and O{sub 2} was observed at concentrations of 0.1 to 1% in helium. Gas streams at 100 to 5000 sccm were passed through getters operated at 500-800{degree}C. On-getter residence times of two seconds were required to achieve > 99% removal of these reactive impurities. At this removal efficiency level, the individual impurity capacity of 100 g of St 909 purifier at 800{degree}C was 0.59, 0.28, 0.19, 0.14 and 0.12 moles of CH{sub 4}, CO, CO{sub 2}, O{sub 2} and NH{sub 3}, respectively. Hydrogen containing gases, CH{sub 4} and NH{sub 3}, were cracked on the purifier and the resultant elemental hydrogen was released. Only 8{+-}2 scc of H{sub 2} were retained on 100 g of St 909 at 800{degree}C. These features suggest that this alloy can be employed as an efficient purifier for hydrogen isotopes in inert gas, nitrogen, or perhaps even H, D, or T streams. 12 refs., 4 figs., 1 tab.