Design, construction and commissioning of a high-flow radon removal system for XENONnT

Abstract

Abstract A high-flow radon removal system based on cryogenic distillation was developed and constructed to reduce radon-induced backgrounds in liquid xenon detectors for rare event searches such as XENONnT. A continuous purification of the XENONnT liquid xenon inventory of 8.4 tonnes at process flows up to 71 kg/h (200 slpm) is required to achieve a radon reduction by a factor larger than two for radon sources inside the detector. To reach such high flows, the distillation column’s design features liquid xenon inlet and outlets along with novel custom-made bath-type heat exchangers with high liquefaction capabilities. The distillation process was designed using a modification of the McCabe–Thiele approach without a bottom product extraction. The thermodynamic concept is based on a Clausius–Rankine cooling cycle with phase-changing medium, in this case the xenon itself. To drastically reduce the external cooling power requirements, an energy efficient heat pump concept was developed applying a custom-made four cylinder magnetically-coupled piston pump as compressor. The distillation system was operated at thermodynamically stable conditions at a process flow of $$({91\pm 2})\,\mathrm{kg/h}$$ ( 91 ± 2 ) kg / h (( $$258\pm 6$$ 258 ± 6 ) slpm), 30% over design. With this flow, a activity concentration $$<1\,\upmu $$ < 1 μ Bq/kg is expected inside the XENONnT detector given the measured radon source distribution.