A Scintillator Purification Plant and Fluid Handling System for SNO+

TL;DR

This paper describes the design, construction, and commissioning of a large-scale purification plant and fluid handling system for the SNO+ neutrino and double-beta decay experiment, enabling high-purity liquid scintillator preparation underground.

Contribution

It introduces a comprehensive purification and handling system specifically built for SNO+, including multi-stage distillation, extraction, and metal-loading processes, which are tailored for neutrino and double-beta decay research.

Findings

Successful construction and commissioning of the purification plant

Effective purification processes achieved high scintillator purity

System supports both neutrino detection and double-beta decay experiments

Abstract

A large capacity purification plant and fluid handling system has been constructed for the SNO+ neutrino and double-beta decay experiment, located 6800 feet underground at SNOLAB, Canada. SNO+ is a refurbishment of the SNO detector to fill the acrylic vessel with liquid scintillator based on Linear Alkylbenzene (LAB) and 2 g/L PPO, and also has a phase to load natural tellurium into the scintillator for a double-beta decay experiment with 130Te. The plant includes processes multi-stage dual-stream distillation, column water extraction, steam stripping, and functionalized silica gel adsorption columns. The plant also includes systems for preparing the scintillator with PPO and metal-loading the scintillator for double-beta decay exposure. We review the basis of design, the purification principles, specifications for the plant, and the construction and installations. The construction and commissioning status is updated.