Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 59, No. 6, December 2011, pp.

3485∼3488

High-power Accelerator for Environmental Applications

Seung-Han Kuk, Sung-Myun Kim, Won-Gu Kang and Bumsoo Han∗

EB TECH Co., Ltd., Daejeon 305-500, Korea

Nikolai K. Kuksanov
Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics, Lavrentiev Prospect 11, Novosibirsk 630090, Russia

Kwang-Young Jeong
Kongju National University, Gongju 314-701, Korea

(Received 15 December 2010, in final form 26 April 2011)

A high-power electron accelerator has been developed for environmental applications by EB

TECH Co. Ltd. and BINP. This accelerator, which has double extraction windows, can deliver
an electron beam with a power up to 400 kW at 1 MeV through 3 irradiators. Titanium foils are
used as the window material and are cooled both by water and a blowing air jet. High voltages
are generated through the inductions of the coils in the main accelerator body and SF6 gases are
used to protect against electrical discharges. The first such accelerator was installed in 2005 at the
Daegu Dyeing Industrial Complex, Korea, for treating industrial wastewater from textile dyeing
industries.

PACS numbers: 29.17.+w, 29.25.Bx, 07.50.-e

Keywords: Accelerator, Electron, Coreless transformer, Environmental application, Radiation processing
DOI: 10.3938/jkps.59.3485

I. INTRODUCTION erator in use. Accelerator manufacturers produce many

The problems of environmental damage and degrada-
tion of natural resources are receiving increasing atten-
tion throughout the world. The increased population,
higher living standards, increased urbanization and en-
hanced industrial activities of humankind are all leading
to degradation of the environment. Increasing urbaniza-
tion has been accompanied by significant water pollu-
tion. Given the seriousness of the situation and future
risk of crises, there is an urgent need to develop effi-
cient technologies, including economical treatment meth-
ods for pollutants. However, to have advantages over
existing processes, the electron beam process should be
cost-effective and reliable in operation. Therefore, high-
power accelerators have been developed for environmen-
tal applications, and they show a decrease in the cost of
construction and an operation of electron beam plant.
1. Requirements for Environmental Applica-
tions
The most important factor to control the economics of
an electron beam plant is the cost of the electron accel-
∗ E-mail: bshan@eb-tech.com; Fax: +82-42-930-7500
-3485-
kinds of electron accelerators with an energy range from
0.5 to 10 MeV and a beam power range from 50 to 400
kW. For flue gas treatment, electron energies around 0.7
– 1.0 MeV are enough, but electron beams with energies
of more than 1.0 MeV are useful for wastewater treat-
ment and sludge hygienization. Such energy provides
enough penetration of accelerated electrons into wastew-
ater and sludge at admissible hydrodynamic regions of
wastewater flow and sludge. Accelerators with beam en-
ergies of more than 5 MeV are being produced at low
beam power (less than 50 kW). Low beam power is ac-
ceptable for experimental and pilot plants, but not for
large-scale industrial plants. Therefore, medium-energy
accelerators (from 0.5 to 2.0 MeV) are most practical for
flue gas and wastewater treatment. The beam power of
such accelerators reaches 400 kW, and there are several
projects to produce accelerators at beam powers up to
1 MW. Therefore, the basic criteria of accelerator for
environmental applications are
• High beam power to increase productivity and re-
duce unit operation cost,
• High electrical efficiency to reduce exploitation and
unit operation costs,
• High beam utilization to increase productivity and
reduce unit operation cost.
-3486- Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 59, No. 6, December 2011

2. Environmental Applications of the Accelera-

tor

Electron beam treatment causes essential changes in

various properties of pollutants - solubility, volatility, re-
activity, absorptivity etc., which has stimulated the de-
velopment of productive combination of electron beam
method and various conventional methods. At present,
electron beam treatment is less widely used than con-
ventional methods. However, the first experience with
an industrial application showed that the electron beam
process could occupy a quite essential place in the future.
Already, electron beam technology and its combination
with conventional technology have provided a noticeable
economy of time, area and industrial power for pollutant Fig. 1. (Color online) Accelerator, 400 kW at 1 MeV,
treatment [1-4]. Continuous reinforcement of ecological assembly.
standards is additional motivation for elaboration and
industrial application of electron beam treatment.
Irradiation with electrons produces instantaneous ra-
diolytical transformations by energy transfer from the
accelerated electrons to the orbital electrons of water
molecules. The absorbed energy disturbs the electron
system of the molecule and results in a breakage of inter-
atomic bonds [5,6]. Hydrated electrons eaq − , H atoms,
·
OH and HO2 · radicals, hydrogen peroxide H2 O2 and H2
are the most important products of the primary interac-
tions (radiolysis products). Electron beam processing
of wastewater is non-chemical and uses fast formation
of short-lived reactive radicals that can interact with
a wide range of pollutants. Such reactive radicals are
strong oxidizing or reducing agents that can transform
the pollutants in the liquid wastes. The first studies on
the radiation treatment of wastes were carried out in the
1950’s principally for disinfection. In the 1960’s, these
Fig. 2. Double extraction window: 1: ion pumps, 2: scan-
studies were extended to the purification of water and
ning system, 3: cylinder flange, 4: protection cylinders, 5:
wastewater. After some laboratory research on indus- foil blower, 6: foil frame, and 7: extraction foils.
trial wastewater and polluted groundwater in the 1970’s
and 1980’s, several pilot plants were built for extended
research in the 1990’s.
for each coil) are generated through the inductions of
the coils in the main accelerator body, and SF6 gases
are used for protecting against electrical discharges. The
II. DEVELOPMENT OF A HIGH-POWER first accelerator of this type was installed in the Daegu
ACCELERATOR Dyeing Industrial Complex (DDIC), Korea, for treating
textile dyeing wastewater.
The key to the successful implementation of electron Electron accelerators for radiation processing are clas-
beams in environmental pollution protection depends on sified on the basis of the mode of operation into direct
how to manage the economics in its application. To com- current (DC) and radio-frequency (RF) powered ma-
pete with other processes in economic evaluation, the chines. With DC voltage accelerators, a DC voltage
electron beam system should be operated with a cost- is used to accelerate the electrons. The voltage is ei-
effective accelerator with low enough doses. Therefore, ther applied directly between the electron source and an
a 1 MeV, 400 kW accelerator has been produced by EB- electrode as with electrostatic machines or transferred to
TECH Co. Ltd. and BINP, Russia (Fig. 1). the electrons inductively as with machines of the trans-
This accelerator can deliver a maximum 400 kW of former type. The final energy of the electrons in DC
electron beam power through 3 irradiators, which have accelerators is numerically equal to the potential differ-
double extraction windows (Fig. 2). Titanium foils are ence across the accelerating tube [7]. The DC voltage
used for the window material and are cooled both by a is used to accelerate electrons in the direct acceleration
blowing air jet and water. High voltages (20 – 40 kV method. DC voltage power supplies used as high voltage
High-power Accelerator for Environmental Applications – Seung-Han Kuk et al. -3487-

Table 1. Parameter of the high-power accelerator.

Parameter Value
Nominal energy 0.6 – 1.0 MeV
Energy stability ±1%
Nominal beam current 500 mA
Beam current stability ±2%
Beam power 400 kW
Scan width 200 cm
Dose uniformity <±5%
Mode of operation continuous
Fig. 3. (Color online) High-power accelerator in a wastew-
No. of accelerating heads 3 heads ater process.
Total beam power 400 kW
Power consumption 500 kW
Table 2. Construction cost of an industrial plant.
Electrical efficiency 80%
(Unit: M$ in USD)

Cost Remarks
sources are usually based on the use of oil- or gas-filled Acceleator – 1 MeV, 400 kW 2.0
transformers with a rectifier circuit. They are relatively Water reactor & raw material
simple and are the most reliable accelerator component. Cost for Land, R&D,
Installation cost-welding/
Medium energy (0.5 – 5 MeV) can be obtained by using and Approval
piping/inspection etc. 1.5
a high-voltage generator. Different type inductance or from authorities
capacitance coupling allows the AC primary voltage to Design
are not included
be multiplied and output voltages of up to 5 MV to be Shield room & construction
obtained. The main parameters of a high-power acceler- Transportation, tax, others 0.5
ator are shown in Table 1. Total 4.0
The high-voltage coreless transformer concept was ap-
plied in this high-power accelerator. A certain number of
secondary coils is needed to obtain the required output Table 3. Operating cost of an industrial plant.
voltage. There is no central magnetic guide, which sim- (Unit: M$ in USD)
plifies the high-voltage source design. A central pressure
tank is used to install the HV transformer, the acceler- Addition of
Items Remarks
ating section and the scanner. Two more tanks are used electron beam
with additional accelerating tubes and scanning devices. Invest (4,000,000)
A SF6 gas insulating system is used. Coreless accelera- Interest 240,000 6%
tors are usually operated at AC voltages with frequencies Operating Depreciation 200,000 20 yrs
of 0.4 – 1 kHz to reduce the accelerator dimensions. Elec-
Cost Electricity 320,000 800 kW
tron energies of 0.2 – 2.5 MeV can be obtained in such
Labor 100,000 3 shift
accelerators.
Maintenance, etc. 80,000 2%
Total cost 940,000 ∼1 M$/yr

III. ECONOMIC EVALUATION

An industrial plant for treating 10,000 m3 /d of textile
dyeing wastewater with a high-power electron acceler-
ator (1 MeV, 400 kW) was constructed and has been
operated continuously since 2005. This plant demon-
strated a reduction in chemical reagent consumption and
a reduction in retention times with increased efficiency
and decreased the CODCr (chemical oxygen demand as
dichromate method) and BOD5 (biochemical oxygen de-
mand in 5 days) by up to 30 ∼ 40%. The increase in
removal efficiency after radiation treatment is due to ra-
diolytical transformation of biodegradable compounds to
more readily digestible forms (Fig. 3).
Based on the pilot plant experiments, suitable dose
cost-effective electron-beam plants are determined to
have a dose around 1 – 2 kGy for a flow rate of 10,000 m3
effluent per day. Thus, a cost assessment of a radiation
processing plant with an electron beam can be accom-
plished based on a 1-kGy, 400-kW electron accelerator.
The cost for such a high-power accelerator is around
2.0 M$ for installation and building, piping, and other
equipment, and construction work is estimated to be 1.5
M$. Even by considering additional costs for tax, insur-
ance and documentation as 0.5 M$, the overall capital
costs for plant construction and operation are approxi-
mately 4.0 M$ and 1.0 M$, as stipulated in Tables 2 and
-3488- Journal of the Korean Physical Society, Vol. 59, No. 6, December 2011
3, respectively.
The above estimates do not include the cost for land,
R & D and approval from the authorities. The con-
struction period includes 17 months for civil work and
installation work, and 3 months for trial operation. To
estimate the operation cost, we calculated the electricity
consumptions of the accelerator and of other equipment
as 500 kW (80% efficiency) and 300 kW to a total of 800
kW, respectively. Based on year-round operation (8000
hr/yr), the cost was 320,000 $/yr when the cost of elec-
tricity (kWh) was assumed to be 0.05 $. The labor cost
of the operator was calculated for 3-shift work and is
approximately 100,000 $/yr. Therefore, the actual oper-
ation cost for a 10,000 m3 /d plant comes to around 1.0
M$/yr, including the interest and depreciation of invest-
ment, and is 0.3 $ for each m3 /d of wastewater treatment.
IV. CONCLUSION
A DC-type high-power accelerator, 400 kW at 1 MeV
was developed in 2005 and has been in use for wastew-
ater treatment since then. This accelerator can also be
used for gas and sludge treatment. Accelerators for en-
vironmental applications should have a strong and firm
configuration for year-round operation and for economic
power consumption.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors wish to acknowledge the support of the
International Atomic Energy Agency, the Ministries of
Commerce, Industry & Energy and the Ministry of Ed-
ucation, Science and Technology of the Korean Govern-
ment.
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