Experimental investigation on feasible bioreactor using mechanism of hydrogen oxidation of natural soil for detritiation system

Edao, Yuki; Iwai, Yasunori; Sato, Katsumi; Hayashi, Takumi

We have focused on bacterial oxidation of tritium by hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria in natural soil to realize a passive reactor for tritium oxidation at room temperature. The purpose of this study was to examine the feasibility of a bioreactor with hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria for detritiation system from a point of view of engineering. The efficiency of the bioreactor was evaluated by kinetics. The bioreactor packed with natural soil shows a relative high conversion rate of tritium under the saturated moisture condition at room temperature, which is obviously superior to that of a Pt/AlO catalyst generally used for tritium oxidation in the existing tritium handling facilities. The order of reaction for tritium oxidation with soil was the pseudo-first order as assessed with Michaelis-Menten kinetics model. Our engineering suggestion to increase the reaction rate is the intentional addition of hydrogen at a small concentration in the feed gas on condition that the oxidation of tritium with soil is expressed by the Michaelis-Menten kinetics model. We reach a conclusion that a bioreactor using hydrogen-oxidizing bacteria in natural soil has the feasibility to be applied in the DS as a passive reactor.