Detection of Ammonia and Deuterated Hydrocarbons in Exhaust Gas by Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy during Wall Conditioning

To detect ammonia and deuterated hydrocarbons in exhaust gas from the Large Helical Device (LHD), infrared absorption spectrometry, FTIR with a long optical path gas cell, was applied. Ammonia (NH3) and deuterated hydrocarbons (CxHyDz) could be detected during the first operations of wall baking at 368 K and the D2 glow discharge conducted after vacuum vessel closure. The concentration of ammonia increased with increasing baking temperature, and deuterated ammonia was not detected. Thus, the ammonia, which likely originated from sweat of workers produced during vacuum vessel maintenance activities, was released from the vacuum vessel wall. Hydrocarbons were likely produced by chemical sputtering of carbon tiles and were deuterated by a hydrogen isotope exchange reaction due to D2 glow discharge, while H2O was released from the vacuum vessel during wall baking. It was confirmed that ammonia and various types of deuterated hydrocarbons could be measured discriminately by an FTIR spectroscopy system using a long optical path gas cell. © 2021 The Japan Society of Plasma Science and Nuclear Fusion Research