What is TCAP?
The Thermal Cycling Absorption Process (TCAP) is a semi-continuous gas chromatographic process for separating hydrogen isotopes. A column packed with palladium is repeatedly heated and cooled. Because palladium absorbs lighter hydrogen isotopes more readily than heavier ones, and the effect is stronger at low temperature, each thermal cycle concentrates tritium at one end of the column and protium at the other.
Proven in production
TCAP was invented at the Savannah River Site and began production tritium separation in the site's Replacement Tritium Facility in April 1994. It has run there in 24/7 production since then and is the site's sole process for purifying tritium. SRNL's next-generation TCAP design, demonstrated in 2009, separated a 25% deuterium–protium feed into two streams, each better than 99.7% pure.
Sources
Why TCAP
Compact.
Small tritium-exposed volume; a TCAP unit can fit in a typical glovebox (Scogin, listed under sources).
High purity.
Recovers all hydrogen isotopes in a mixture at high purity.
Low emissions.
Supports low leak rates and careful tritium inventory control.
Applications
- Fusion energy fuel cycles
- Tritium recovery and recycling
- Betavoltaic battery production
- Neutron generators
- Deuterium and tritium purification
- Pharmaceutical research
- Electronics manufacturing
How GWE works with you
- Requirements: feed composition, throughput, purity targets, facility constraints.
- Design: process modeling and custom system design to your specification.
- Build: fabrication through GWE's established design, fabrication and quality subcontractors.
- Support: commissioning, training and ongoing support.
Next-generation TCAP
GWE is also developing next-generation TCAP architectures for larger throughputs.
Frequently asked questions
What does TCAP stand for?
Thermal Cycling Absorption Process.
Which isotopes can TCAP separate?
Protium, deuterium and tritium, from any mixture of the three.
Who invented TCAP?
It was invented at the Savannah River Site and developed by the Savannah River National Laboratory.
Does GWE build TCAP systems for other organizations?
Yes. GWE holds a TCAP license and designs, builds and supports custom systems.
Is TCAP suitable for fusion?
TCAP addresses hydrogen isotope separation, a core function of a fusion plant's tritium system. Contact GWE to discuss throughput and purity requirements.