Evaluation of the fractionation process on aviation turbine fuel production using nuclear technology

The role of nuclear technology not only for electricity as clean energy but also for a tool to evaluate the process in the refinery unit. Fractionation columns are designed to achieve the required separation of fluid mixtures or miscible liquids efficiently. A troubleshoot was reported on aviation turbine fuel production in the refinery unit. Due to this report, an evaluation was performed at fractionator for aviation turbine fuel production to investigate suspected areas. The specification of the unit is height of 44.4 m, internal diameter ID: 4.4 m, and consists of 52 trays, three accumulators, nine platforms. The radiation is collimated and assumed by a point source meanwhile, detector is given a panoramic window. Radiation counting in every point with step 50 mm to gain quantitative data regarding process inside the column. The nuclear technology has successfully revealed the troubleshooting column by the principle: attenuation radiation. Basically, attenuation value depends on the material which penetrated by gamma-ray. Based on six orientation the experiment successfully found flooding cases, misorientation trays, and dried chimney. Overall, the analysis proof that nuclear technology is suitable to be one of non-destructive methods in industrial scale. Future study is to provide three dimensional image by combining tomography and gamma scanning technique.