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RRCAT develops Agri Radiation Processing Facility for beam processing
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Wednesday, 20 February, 2019, 12 : 00 PM [IST]
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Our Bureau, New Delhi
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An Agricultural Radiation Processing Facility (ARPF) has been developed by the Raja Ramanna Centre for Advanced Technology (RRCAT), Indore, for societal electron beam processing applications in the Indian scenario. At the heart of this facility are the two 10 MeV energy and 5kW power linear accelerators (linac), developed indigenously at RRCAT.
Although, only one linac will be used at a time, two have been installed for redundancy to keep the irradiation work go on uninterrupted. Both these linacs have been endurance tested and installed at the facility, situated at Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar Fruit and Vegetable Mandi, Indore.
The facility was inaugurated by R Chidambaram, professor, DAE (Department of Atomic Energy) Homi Bhabha Chair, and former chairman, AEC (Atomic Energy Commission), and secretary, DAE, recently.
About the facility
ARPF will demonstrate the electron beam processing using electron linac for various products and applications. The capital cost and the maintenance of imported high energy accelerators is not economical in Indian conditions. This is the reason why RRCAT has indigenously developed these linacs. ARPF is the first facility of its kind in the country.
Most of the existing facilities use radioactive Co 60 for radiation processing. Here the radiation is emitted continuously and can only be blocked by the absorbers, and have the issue of pilferage of the source. In an accelerator, the radiation can be switched on or off through a simple key, and hence, the processing facility is inherently safe, secure and eco-friendly.
An industrial linac is a complex system and its development requires multi-disciplinary expertise, which RRCAT has acquired over a period of time.
After passing through many phases of design, development, quality checks and regulatory clearances, the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board (AERB) has granted license for running ARPF as a facility.
Most of the systems of the facility are developed in India and hence ARPF is an excellent example of Make in India of high-tech equipment.
The facility has five areas, viz. the shielded vault; the equipment gallery; the laboratory area, the service area and the product handling area.
The linac is installed inside the shielded vault constructed with three-metre thick concrete walls to limit the radiation outside the vault to the background level. Various safety gadgets and interlock systems are installed for the safety of the machine and the personnel. The facility has an elaborate control system to ascertain the integrity of processing and to store the processing parameters for verification.
The product to be radiation-processed is received in a separate area and after quality control, it is loaded on the conveyor for processing. The conveyor transports the batch into the irradiation vault and passes the product in front of the electron beam in a controlled manner.
The processed product is transported and unloaded in a separate area from where it is returned to the owner. Detailed dosimetry has been done on some representative products to verify the dose and dose uniformity requirements of applicable standards.
Applications of the facility
Although the facility is named as Agricultural Radiation Processing Facility, it is a versatile facility which can be used for variety of agricultural, industrial, medical and research applications.
Some of these are listed as follows:
- Quarantine treatment of grain, fruits, cut flowers, etc. for export purpose
- Shelf life extension/inhibition of sprouting in onion, potato, garlic, etc.
- Delay in ripening of perishable fruits like mango, papaya, banana, etc.
- Microbial decontamination of Ayurvedic herbs and their products
- Microbial decontamination of spices
- Development of new crop varieties by mutation
- Sterilisation of medical equipment
- Development of exotic colours in diamonds
- Modification of properties materials (for instance, cables)
- Radiation damage studies of the components used for space application
The ARPF has demonstrated a throughput of 5kGy. tonne/hour with existing beam power and product handling system. The throughput can be increased by using higher power accelerators.
In addition to the above applications, dedicated electron-based irradiation facilities are also used for sewage sludge hygienation. It may be noted that a gamma irradiation-based sludge hygienation system is coming up at Kabit Khedi in Indore, and it will be the second such facility in India after the Ahmedabad facility.
Present status of product irradiation
ARPF is ready for processing of certain products in the Stage-1 of operation. The commercial irradiation of different products needs licenses from various regulatory authorities such as AERB (Atomic Energy Regulatory Board), FDA, FSSAI, etc. Application is being filed to CDSCO (Central Drug Standard Control Organisation) to get the license for the commercial irradiation of medical products at ARPF.
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