First Large Scale Production of Low Radioactivity Argon From Underground Sources

TL;DR

This paper details the first large-scale production of low-radioactivity argon from underground sources, significantly reducing 39Ar levels for use in dark matter and neutrino detection experiments.

Contribution

It demonstrates a scalable method to produce low-radioactivity argon from underground wells using VPSA and cryogenic distillation, enabling larger detector applications.

Findings

39Ar activity is at least 100 times lower than atmospheric argon.

Production rate of 0.5 kg/day achieved.

Argon purity suitable for scientific detectors.

Abstract

We report on the first large-scale production of low radioactivity argon from underground gas wells. Low radioactivity argon is of general interest, in particular for the construction of large scale WIMP dark matter searches and detectors of reactor neutrinos for non-proliferation efforts. Atmospheric argon has an activity of about 1 Bq/kg from the decays of 39Ar; the concentration of 39Ar in the underground argon we are collecting is at least a factor of 100 lower than this value. The argon is collected from a stream of gas from a CO2 well in southwestern Colorado with a Vacuum Pressure Swing Adsorption (VPSA) plant. The gas from the well contains argon at a concentration of 400-600 ppm, and the VPSA plant produces an output stream with an argon concentration at the level of 30,000-50,000 ppm (3-5%) in a single pass. This gas is sent for further processing to Fermilab where it is purified by cryogenic distillation. The argon production rate is presently 0.5 kg/day.