First Commissioning of a Cryogenic Distillation Column for Low Radioactivity Underground Argon

Journal Article · Sun Apr 01 00:00:00 EDT 2012 · TBD

OSTI ID:1433330

Back, H. O. ^[1]; Alexander, T. ^[2]; Alton, A. ^[3]; Condon, C. ^[1]; de Haas, E. ^[1]; Galbiati, C. ^[1]; Goretti, A. ^[1]; Hohmann, T. ^[1]; Ianni, An. ^[1]; Kendziora, C. ^[2]; Loer, B. ^[1]; Montanari, D. ^[2]; Mosteiro, P. ^[1]; Pordes, S. ^[2]

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1. Princeton U.
2. Fermilab
3. Augustana Coll., Sioux Falls

We report on the performance and commissioning of a cryogenic distillation column for low radioactivity underground argon at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. The distillation column is designed to accept a mixture of argon, helium, and nitrogen and return pure argon with a nitrogen contamination less than 10 ppm. In the first commissioning, we were able to run the distillation column in a continuous mode and produce argon that is 99.9% pure. After running in a batch mode, the argon purity was increased to 99.95%, with 500 ppm of nitrogen remaining. The efficiency of collecting the argon from the gas mixture was between 70% and 81%, at an argon production rate of 0.84-0.98 kg/day.

• Research Organization: Fermi National Accelerator Lab. (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
• Contributing Organization: DarkSide
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-07CH11359
• OSTI ID: 1433330
• Report Number(s): arXiv:1204.6061; FERMILAB-PUB-12-286-E; 1112718
• Journal Information: TBD, Journal Name: TBD
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS
46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS