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Modern Purification Methods for Liquid Scintillators Intended for Recording Rare Events

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Abstract—

Chromato-mass-spectrometry and UV/VIS spectroscopy are used to study the composition and properties of linear alkyl benzene (LAB) produced in Russia as the basic solvent for production of low-background liquid scintillators. The efficiency of LAB purification by reducing intrinsic radioactivity (U, Th) via water extraction (with addition of a strong chelate, dimethylaminomethylendiphosphonic acid) and sorption on Al2O3 in silica gel is studied. The purification method for removing potassium from scintillation fluors (PPO, BPO, p-terphenyl) is developed. It is shown that U and Th can be efficiently extracted from NdCl3 water solutions with 0.1 M TOPO solution in pseudocumene.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 16-12-10322.

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  1. Institute for Nuclear Research, Russian Academy of Sciences, 117312, Moscow, Russia

    G. Y. Novikova

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  1. G. Y. Novikova
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Correspondence to G. Y. Novikova.

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Translated by E. Baldina

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Novikova, G.Y. Modern Purification Methods for Liquid Scintillators Intended for Recording Rare Events. Phys. Part. Nuclei 49, 774–780 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063779618040433

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1063779618040433

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