Gettering of Hydrogen and Methane from a Helium Gas Mixture
- Univ. of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX (United States)
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
In our study, the authors developed an approach for accurately quantifying the helium content in a gas mixture also containing hydrogen and methane using commercially available getters. The authors performed a systematic study to examine how both H2 and CH4 can be removed simultaneously from the mixture using two SAES St 172® getters operating at different temperatures. The remaining He within the gas mixture can then be measured directly using a capacitance manometer. Moreover, the optimum combination involved operating one getter at 650°C to decompose the methane, and the second at 110°C to remove the hydrogen. Finally, this approach eliminated the need to reactivate the getters between measurements, thereby enabling multiple measurements to be made within a short time interval, with accuracy better than 1%. The authors anticipate that such an approach will be particularly useful for quantifying the He-3 in mixtures that include tritium, tritiated methane, and helium-3. The presence of tritiated methane, generated by tritium activity, often complicates such measurements.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 1183093
- Report Number(s):
- SAND2014-16893J; 536876
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Vacuum Science and Technology. A, Vacuum, Surfaces and Films, Vol. 32, Issue 6; ISSN 0734-2101
- Publisher:
- American Vacuum SocietyCopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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