Low intensity gamma-ray monitor for in-situ solids fraction measurements in liquids

• Published in: Journal of instrumentation Vol. 17; no. 11; p. P11035
• Main Authors: Kaur Sraw, Talwinder, Yu, Bo, Sedgwick, Andrea, Junaid, Abu, Tsui, Ying, Gupta, Manisha, Fedosejevs, Robert
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Bristol IOP Publishing 01.11.2022
• Subjects: Cerium; Circuits; Detector modelling and simulations I (interaction of radiation with matter, interaction of photons with matter, interaction of hadrons with matter, etc); Gamma ray sources; Gamma rays; Inspection with x-rays; Lutetium; Oil sands; Optical detector readout concepts; Photon counters; Photon detectors for UV, visible and IR photons (solid-state) (PIN diodes, APDs, Si-PMTs, G-APDs, CCDs, EBCCDs, EMCCDs, CMOS imagers, etc); Photons; Ponds; Pulse amplitude; Scintillation counters; Tailings; Water reuse; Yttrium
• ISSN: 1748-0221; 1748-0221
• DOI: 10.1088/1748-0221/17/11/P11035

A novel detection system has been designed to measure the settling of solids in tailing ponds in order to facilitate the reuse of water in oil sands extraction processing, tailings excavation, transportation and management. The system is based on a weak gamma ray source and an inexpensive scintillator-based detector. The system measures gamma ray photons which are transmitted through the material of interest which are detected by a combined scintillator and Multi Pixel Photon Counter (MPPC) detector. This non-destructive measurement allows the determination of the solids contents profile versus depth in a tailing pond. The attenuation of gamma radiation depends on the density of the solids within the fluid tailings and thus varies with the weight fraction of solids content of the tailings. Modelling of the system was carried out by Geant4 simulations. The system was deployed using a weak 133 Ba gamma-ray source together with a simple microprocessor controller readout circuit to analyze the pulse height response of a Cerium doped Lutetium Yttrium Orthosilicate (LYSO (Ce)) scintillator crystal. The detection system is calibrated with the known samples and can measure solids content with a relative precision of within ∼2%.