Pushka May 06 Collaboration Scintillator Update

Scintillator Blending Update: 

Scintillator Blending Update Dave Pushka Fermilab May 2006 Collaboration Meeting

Blending Near Term Steps:: 

Blending Near Term Steps: IPND – Just around the corner!!!! Time to get needed equipment on order for a January 2007 Blending effort. Pseudocumene is already at FNAL! Mineral Oil will arrive – Vendor wants to ship in rail cars. I think this is okay and we can deal with a rail car or two at FNAL on the rail siding. Wave shifter powder will arrive in time.

Blending Equipment List Needed for IPND : 

Blending Equipment List Needed for IPND Six ISO Tanks on Chassis. (Will leave tanks sitting on chassis and will use existing truck tractors to move filled (or empty) ISO tanks around – no push to get a $300k container handler for the IPND). Weigh each ISO tanks and chassis empty weight on the truck scale. (Six ISO tanks if IPND is 29,048 gallons of scintillator per CDR). Six secondary containment aprons (one for each ISO tank) A few (8) empty and clean 55 gallon drums for making a pseudocumene and wave shifter concentrate. A few (8) empty secondary containments for 55 gallon drums.

Blending Equipment List Needed for IPND : 

Blending Equipment List Needed for IPND Pump to transfer fluids (implies a VFD motor drive and electrical safety disconnect). The pump is a $2k item, the VDF is another $2k, the disconnect and electrician work is another $2k. Skid to contain pump and act as secondary containment under the pump. This is a $4k item. Will use the existing truck scale at FNAL to weigh the fluids. Therefore, will not procure a scale for the IPND scintillator blending effort. Will need a clean drum pump (~$1k) to draw pseudocumene out of the 55 gallon drums.

IPND Blending Process Steps:: 

IPND Blending Process Steps: Place the appropriate quantity of wave shifter powder into an empty 55 gallon drum. Transfer some pseudocumene into the drum and circulate to dissolve the powder into the pseudocumene. Circulate the pseudocumene to fully dissolve the waveshifter power. This makes about 50 gallons of pseudocumene concentrate. Inspect the pseudocumene concentrate and verify the mixture is satisfactory.

IPND Blending Process Steps:: 

IPND Blending Process Steps: Transfer the pseudocumene and wave shifter concentrate from 55 gallon drum into the empty ISO tank. Add additional pseudocumene to the same ISO tank to get the appropriate quantity of pseudocumene and wave shifter into the ISO tank. Move ISO tank (on the chassis) to the truck scale and weigh the unit. Calculate the product net weight. Leave ISO tank on secondary containment on truck scale. Inspect the pseudocumene and wave shifter mixture and verify the mixture is satisfactory.

IPND Blending Process Steps:: 

IPND Blending Process Steps: Place secondary containment for an ISO tank next to the rail car. Drive ISO tank on chassis over secondary containment. Connect vapor space of ISO tank to the rail car top vent. Connect rail car to pump suction, connect pump discharge to ISO tank. Connect bonding conductors (i.e. ground these steel tanks together). Use a positive displacement flow meter (like your water meter in your basement) to transfer about 6000 gallons of mineral oil from the rail car to the ISO tank.

IPND Blending Process Steps:: 

IPND Blending Process Steps: Disconnect ISO tank filled with mineral oil and haul it to a space adjacent to the truck scale. Set it on secondary containment. Connect vapor space of mineral oil ISO tank to the vapor space of the pseudocumene ISO tank top vent. Connect mineral oil ISO tank drain to the pump suction, connect pump discharge to pseudocumene ISO tank. Connect bonding conductors (i.e. ground these steel tanks together). Use a positive displacement flow meter to transfer about 5400 gallons of mineral oil from the rail car to the ISO tank. Use the change in weight indicated by the truck scale to calculate the actual quantity of mineral oil transferred.

IPND Blending Process Steps:: 

IPND Blending Process Steps: Repeat Process to make 4 full ISO tanks of blended scintillator. If 29,048 gallons for IPND, four ISO tanks filled to 6300 gallons each. Fifth ISO tank will be partially filled to about 3,848 gallons. Sixth ISO tank and chassis will be returned after the blending is completed. Storage costs for the blended scintillator will be about $4000 per month….so hurry up and build the IPND.