A Cryogenic Distillation Column Cascade for a Fusion Reactor

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Abstract
A cryogenic distillation column cascade composed of only two columns is proposed. Compared with the Tritium Systems Test Assembly (TSTA) cascade, the tritium inventory is ∼1.5 times more and the packed height of the highest column increases by ∼40%. However, the number of the columns is halved with the separation performance unchanged. The number of the instruments needed and the number of the process parameters to be monitored are also reduced. Unlike in the case of the TSTA cascade, the performance of the proposed cascade is not subject to the flow rate of the neutral beam injector recycle stream. The high performance can be maintained even if the protium percentage in the raw fuel input increases significantly (e.g., from 1 to 3%), just by adjusting the flow rates of the top, bottom, and side streams. Because of this great flexibility, it is worthwhile to build and study the proposed cascade as a possible alternative to the TSTA cascade.