Concept study of high volume food irradiation with a pulsed power accelerator
A concept study was initiated to establish technical requirements and processing cost estimates for a high power, high volume x-radiation food processing facility using pulsed power technology. The design study was directed toward a central processing plant that would transport and process the food products in standard pallets of 1.1m {times} 1.2m {times} 1.2m dimensions. The 1.2m depth of penetration, and a dose uniformity requirement of a factor of 2 between the maximum and minimum dose, led to a decision to employ x-radiation, produced from a 5 MeV electron beam. The electron beam is produced from a large-area cathode and accelerated by a multi-module pulsed power accelerator. The beam power for this design is 500 kW. An example application is developed for illustration, based on produce disinfestation at maximum exposure level of l00 krad and minimum exposure of 50 krad. In order to achieve this ratio of maximum to minimum dose, the pallet is rotated through 3609 while being exposed. The estimated process rate is approximately 30 metric tons/hour. The accelerator design was developed by scaling from the present high average power beam experiments in the Repetitive High Energy Pulsed Power (RHEPP) program, which will deliver an output of 350 kW in a 2.5 MeV beam. The high voltage is achieved by using 250 kV pulses that are added together with inductively-isolated adder cavities. This technology will be described, and results from the RHEPP experiments will be compared with the design requirements for the high power food processor application. Processing issues, technology limits, dose calculations, and cost estimates will be discussed.
- Research Organization:
- Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC04-94AL85000
- OSTI ID:
- 10120712
- Report Number(s):
- SAND-93-0918C; CONF-9310274-1; ON: DE94006370; BR: GB0103012
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Food preservation 2000 conference,Natick, MA (United States),19-21 Oct 1993; Other Information: PBD: [1993]
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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