5MeV electron beam facilities in Japan

There are 3 facilities with 5MeV electron beam processing machines in Japan and another one is planned to start operation in 1998. 2 of them are installed by Nissin-High Voltage and the other are by Sumitomo Heavy/Radiation Dynamics. In this report are introduced 2 facilities which we have installed and are operating satisfactorily. The first one was: installed at Radia Industry for irradiation services and the second one for in-house use in a factory of a pharmaceutical plastic container manufacturer, Shinko Chemical. And the second one is available for contract irradiation. The machine in Radia Industry has a comprehensive conveyor system with a turn-over equipment to shoot from the top and the bottom of materials with e-beam and X-ray, and has been successfully operated for many years. The machine in Shinko Chemical is equipped with a unique conveyor system with two conveyor lines under the beam window and the motion of the lines are opposite each other. This conveyor system also has a turn-over equipment like other machines but the direction of turning-over is designed to give the irradiated materials more uniform dose.     

Improvement of municipal wastewaters by electron beam accelerator in Brazil

Radiation processing of municipal sewage and sludge has been considered not only for disinfection but also for solids and organic matter removal in Brazil. The improvement of irradiated systems were demonstrated by the elimination of indicator bacteria and by the reduction on the total bacteria count, on the chemical and biochemical oxygen demand from raw sewage and biologically treated effluents. The selected doses of radiation to be applied to sewage and sewage sludge are in the range of 3.0 to 4.0 kGy to sewage and 4.0 to 6.0 kGy to sewage sludge.     

Remotion of organic compounds of actual industrial effluents by electron beam irradiation

Organic compounds has been a great problem of environmental pollution, the traditional methods are not effecient on removing these compounds and most of them are deposited to ambient and stay there for long time causing problems to the environment. Ionizing radiation has been used with success to destroy organic molecules. Actual industrial effluents were irradiated using IPEN's electron beam wastewater pilot plant to study organic compounds degradation. The samples were irradiated with and without air mixture by different doses. Irradiation treatment efficiency was evaluated by the Cromatography Gas Analyses of the samples before and after irradiation. The studied organic compounds were: phenol, chloroform, tetrachloroethylene (PCE), carbon tetrachloride, trichloroethylene (TCE), 1,1-dichloroethane, dichloromethane, benzene, toluene and xilene. A degradation superior to 80% was achieved for the majority of the compounds with air addition and 2kGy delivered dose condition. For the samples that were irradiated without air addition the degradation was higher.     

Crosslinking of recycled polyethylene by gamma and electron beam irradiation

Recycling of polymeric materials is usually accompanied by degradation and deleterious properties. Irradiation crosslinking of recycling low density polyethylene by electron beam and gamma rays could be the solution to improve their properties. This paper presents a comparison on the effects of gamma and electron irradiation on virgin and recycled polyethylene. Their mechanical, thermal and chemical properties were analyzed. VPE samples shown higher crosslinking percentages than RPE samples in all range of doses studied, unirradiated RPE samples had higher values on their tensile properties than VPE. Percentage crystallinity was similar in all range of doses studied.     

A study on chemical composition of spices irradiated by electron beam

Quantitative changes in common organic acids and inorganic acids from spices irradiated by electron beam were studied by Dionex-4000i ion chromograph. The results showed that the acids content of either chilli or the five-spice powder⁽³⁾ irradiated with a dose of 9.94 kGy did not undergo significant changes in comparison with the control samples. The flavour composition in the five-spice powder irradiated by electron beam was also determined by Finnigan MAT-8230B gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer, and compared to the results by heating treatment (120°C, 30min). The comparison indicated that the effect of electron beam treatment on flavour composition was less than that of heating.     

电子束辐照与电化学还原联用技术——一种用于煤炭直接液化的新方法

对电子束辐照与电化学联用技术提高煤炭液化率的新型方法进行了研究。利用高能电子束对煤炭样品进行辐照,并通过四氢呋喃萃取出辐照后的可能产物并计算其提取率。实验结果发现,提取产率随着辐照剂量的增加而增加,并得到在氧气气氛下25 kGy的最佳辐照条件。辐照的样品进一步在氢氧化钠电解液中电化学还原液化,并采用元素分析法、傅里叶红外光谱法、阴极极化曲线法、核磁共振法和计时电流法等来检测辐照对煤炭电化学还原的影响。     

Radiation-induced OH radical generation and its use for groundwater remediation

Because of nitrite hydrogenperoxide formation irradiation treatment alone is not apt for groundwater remediation with regard to utilization as drinking water. Addition of ozone to the water before irradiation eliminates the nitrite and hydrogen peroxide as well and causes the reducing species of water radiolysis to be converted into OH radicals. The resulting advanced oxidation process is the only one which is based on two OH radical sources: water radiolysis and ozone decomposition. The basic chemistry and a 3 m³ prototype installation is described.     

Effect of electron beam irradiation on mechanical and thermal properties of waste polyamide copolymer blended with nitrile‐butadiene rubber

In the present study, the effect of electron beam irradiation on the morphological, thermal, and mechanical properties of waste polyamide copolymer (WPA‐66/6) blended with different contents of acrylonitrile butadiene rubber (NBR) were studied. The prepared blends were subjected to irradiation doses up to 150 kGy and the structural modifications were discussed; non‐irradiated blends were used as control. Mechanical properties, namely, tensile strength (TS), yield strength, elongation at break, and hardness, were followed up as functions of irradiation dose and degree of loading with rubber content. On the other hand, the influence of irradiation dose on the thermal parameters, melting temperature, heat of fusion, ΔH_m of the recycled PA copolymer, and its blend with NBR were also investigated. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Experimental design approach for petrochemical waste water treatment using solar assisted photo Fenton process

In this study, the effect of photo-Fenton process on the treatment of petrochemical waste water treatment was investigated. The influence of process conditions were determined by factorial design. Optimization of the process conditions were performed by central composite design. Under, optimized conditions lab scale and solar assisted pilot scale of petrochemical waste water treatment was performed. Three factors namely initial pH, H₂O₂ concentration (mM) and Fe²⁺ concentration (mM) executed the essential role in petrochemical waste water treatment. Central composite design resulted in the prediction of optimized value as 6.5 initial pH, 15.65 mM of H₂O₂ concentration and 2.09 mM of Fe²⁺ concentration. Under these conditions, the reduction in chemical oxygen demand (COD) percentage reached about 68.67 ± 2.8% after 280 min in pilot scale of solar assisted photo Fenton process of petrochemical waste water treatment. Thus, experimental design combined with advanced Fenton process can become a feasible unconventional method for petrochemical waste water treatment.     

Pilot-plant for NOx, SO2 and HC removal from flue-gas of municipal waste incinerator by electron beam irradiation

According to the basic research performed using a small size reactor at TRCRE of JAERI, the electron beam irradiation process was proved to be very effective for NO_x, SO₂ and HC removals from flue-gas of municipal waste incinerators. Based on this result, a pilot-plant was constructed for the demonstration of NO_x, SO₂ and HC removal performance using electron accelerator of maximum energy 0.95 MeV and maximum power 15kW.The pilot-plant was constructed at Matsudo City waste Disposal Center. The flue-gas of 1,000 Nm³/hr is guided from the waste incinerator flue-gas line of 30,000Nm³/hr to the pilot-plant to be processed by spraying Ca(OH)₂ slurry or powder and irradiation with high-energy electron beam of the accelerator. NO_x, SO₂ and HC are removed simultaneously from the flue-gas by the enhanced reaction with Ca (OH)₂ under irradiation.A brief explanation of the pilot-plant and preliminary results of the experiments are introduced in this paper.     

Microstructure analysis of a bronze–steel electron beam weld

An electron beam welded joint of bronze and steel has been investigated by scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The phases and the resulting microstructure in the different zones of the joint have been characterised in detail and compared to hardness. The fine grained microstructure of the weld zone is partly dominated by the directed solidification of the melt. It mainly consists of the α-copper solid solution phase, the intermetallic δ phase Cu₃₁>Sn₈> as well as the bainitic and the martensitic steel phase. This mixture results in a considerably increase in hardness compared to base materials. The heat affected zone of bronze shows a refinement of the used dendritic cast material in a very small area. In the heat affected zone of the mild steel the change of microstructure depends on the distance from the weld zone due to the influence of thermal energy impact and heat dissipation. A maximum of hardness is reached nearby the weld due to the formation of bainite and martensite. The resulting hardness profile is asymmetrical.     

Graft polymerization of acrylamide onto LLDPE film by electron beam pre-irradiation in air and argon. II. Influence of mohr's salt

LLDPE film pre-irradiated by electron beam (EB) in air and argon was grafted in an aqueous acrylamide solution containing Mohr's salt in the concentration range 0.0025–2% The grafting rate and yield were strongly dependent on the Mohr's salt concentration, mainly as a result of chain termination. The exponential grafting rate dependence on the pre-irradiation dose was quite insensitive to a hundred-fold variation in Mohr's salt concentration. © 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

The revival of electron beam irradiation curing of epoxy resin—materials characterization and supportive cure studies

Polymeric composite manufacturing is a large, rapidly growing and energy consuming industry, where there is an obvious and compelling need for innovative curing technologies conforming to energy efficiency and environmental protection trends. This has led to many research efforts to consider, or in some cases re‐consider, irradiation curing of polymer composites. However, there is still a stifling lack of knowledge of the fundamental mechanisms to obtain homogeneity in the irradiation curing of composites. The key issue of the irradiation curing process, i.e. homogeneous curing affected by electron beam dose and initiator concentration for an epoxy resin is the focus of this paper. The temperature profiles, microstructure, curing degree gradient, and thermomechanical properties of electron beam‐ irradiated epoxy resin were profiled and analyzed, and the results indicated that curing degree in the epoxy resin showed a relatively steady region and an accelerated decrease along the depth direction. It is revealed that there existed an optimal range of concentration of the initiator for irradiation curing of an epoxy resin system. The inhomogeneity in the irradiation‐induced crosslinking structure could be abated by adopting the properly applied irradiation energy and the matching between the irradiation dose and the concentration of the initiator. It can be deduced that for most of the composite products with large thickness, layer upon layer irradiation or irradiation from two sides could be more efficient to obtain a homogeneous crosslinking structure. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Analytical methods and monitoring system for E-beam flue gas treatment process

The results of reliable and precise measurement of gas composition in different key points of e-beam installation are necessary for its proper operation and control. Only the composition of flue gas coming into installation is adequate to composition of flue gas emitted from coal-fired boiler. At other points of e-b installation the gas composition is strongly modified by process conditions therefore specific measuring system (sampling and conditioning system and set of gas analyzers) for its determination are required. In the paper system for gas composition measurement at inlet and outlet of e-b installation are described. Process parameters are continuously monitoring by CEM system and occasionally by the grab sample system. Both system have been tested at pilot plant at EPS Kaw czyn.     

The automatic interlocking system of electron absorbed dose monitoring and irradiation process control

The paper describes the real time computer control system used for monitoring and control parameters of the electron irradiation facility. The process control is achieved through the control system made up of a personal computer, three I/O boards and an ISA interface board. The improved bipartition transport theory has been applied to calculate the absorbed dose of low energy electron. The experimental results proved that the dose control precision of the system has been greatly raised, and the other performance indexes have been obviously improved. This interlocking system may be used for dose monitoring and process control in BB radiation processing.     

Radiation induced decomposition of halogenated organic compounds in water

Decomposition by ionizing radiations of p-chlorophenol and tetrachloroethylene in synthetic water samples at about 2 mg Cl L⁻¹, has been studied on laboratory-scale experiments. Bicarbonate/carbonate and nitrate ions, at two concentration levels (20 and 200 mg HCO₃⁻¹ and 1 and 50 mg NO₃⁻L⁻) were added to synthetic samples in order to evaluate their influence on decomposition yield. At 5 kGy γ dose level, a quantitative degradation of p-chlorophenol is obtained whereas only qualitative consideration can be drawn on tetracholoroethylene. Comparative study with respect to degradation of p-cholophenol solutions (about 2 mg Cl L⁻¹) by γ-rays and electron beam irradiation treatment at 0.5 kGy dose level, are in progress; preliminary results indicate that irradiation with γ-rays seems to be more efficient in terms of removal efficiency respect to electron beams source.     

Pt/Rh and Pd/Rh catalysts used for ozone decomposition and simultaneous elimination of ozone and carbon monoxide

Summary Catalytic oxidation of CO in the gas phase with ozone was carried out at lower temperature. The catalytic activities of Pt/Rh and Pd/Rh monolith honeycomb catalysts for the catalytic thermal oxidation and catalytic ozone oxidation were compared.     

Automated technological radiation installation for sterilization of medical goods

Last years most of the developed countries are using radiation method based on electron accelerators for sterilization of medical goods as mostly safe and ecologically pure from all known methods. The report describes in details the automated installation for sterilization of single-use syringes working in the city of Izhevsk, Russia. The syringes are irradiated from two sides inside the packs containing 250 units each. The packs are automatically turned on the inclined part of the conveyor under influence of their own weight. The syringes are posed vertically along the beam fall. The ration of maximal absorbed dose to minimal is 1.4. The productive rate of installation is no less 100 000 syringes per hour. The installation is based on the linear pulse electron accelerator ILU-6. It is the single cavity machine with electron energy up to 2.5 MeV and average beam power up to 20 kW. The pulse nature of the current and automatic control system permit to vary the absorbed dose in great range. The electron energy, beam current, pulse repetition rate, beam position in the extracted window and transportation of the treated products are computer controlled.     

Mechanical properties,surface chemistry,and barrier characteristics of electron beam irradiated‐annealed LDPE/PA6/LDPE multi‐layer films at N2

The effects of electron beam irradiation in the nitrogen environment, on chain scission, crosslinking, crystallinity, mechanical performance, and barrier properties of LDPE/PA6/LDPE multi‐layer films were studied. The evaluation of radiation‐induced crosslinking effect by the gel content measurement and Charlesby–Pinner plot suggested more of crosslinking over chain scission, in all the layers, which was more pronounced in polyethylene phase. The FTIR analysis results showed good agreement with those observed by the gel content measurements. It is believed that the crosslinking reaction had occurred through the C? N bonds in polyamide‐6, and vinyl group in polyethylene layers. The evaluation of radiation effect on the crystallinity and crosslinking of films by FTIR technique showed that by increasing the applied doses, the crystallinity in all the layers was decreased and the crosslinking was increased. The differential scanning calorimetry of irradiated samples revealed that due to the crosslinking reaction, the crystallinity was decreased by the applied dose. The tensile strength of the films was increased and the percent elongation at break was decreased, by increasing the applied doses. This study was also indicated that the radiation‐induced crosslinking effect on the tensile properties was dominantly observed up to 50 kGy. The surface free energy analysis of the films using the contact angle measurement and geometric mean equation indicated that the surface polarity was decreased by increasing the absorbed doses. It was found that due to the decline in the surface polarity and the simultaneously formation of crosslinked network in these films, both water vapor transmission rate and oxygen permeability were significantly decreased. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Improvements of physical and mechanical properties of electron beam irradiation—crosslinked EVA foams

In this work, ethylene–vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer foams were prepared and crosslinked by using high‐energy electron beam (e‐beam) radiation (10 MeV). The effect of parameters such as irradiation dose, the contents of foaming agent, radiation activator, and radiation sensitizer on improvement of physical and mechanical properties of the EVA foamed samples were investigated. The foams were obtained through a four‐step process of melt mixing, forming, crosslinking, and foaming. During the melt mixing process EVA was compounded with different amounts of azodicarbonamide (ADCA) as a blowing agent, zinc oxide (ZnO) as a radiation activator, and trimethylol propane‐trimethacrylate (TMPTMA) as a radiation sensitizer. The samples were compression molded into flat sheets at low temperature (110°C) and were then radiation‐crosslinked by 20–80 kGy e‐beam. Finally, the crosslinked samples were converted to foams by a high temperature (210°C) compression molding process. The foamed samples were analyzed in terms of gel content, density, compression molding set, tensile properties, and micro‐structural features. It was found that an increase in absorbed radiation dosage increases crosslink density, elasticity, percentage recovery, tensile strength, and compression properties of the EVA foams. Due to the increased recovery the percentage of compression set was reduced. Similarly increasing the TMPTMA content in the formulation increased the crosslink density and the resulting mechanical properties. Contrary to these findings, addition of ADCA led to the formation of extra gases which in turn reduced the crosslink density, and resulted in the deterioration of the mechanical properties and hence an increase in the compression set. However, addition of ZnO and TMPTMA led to the formation of smaller and more uniform cell size with improved mechanical properties. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.