In chemical processes it is essential that the flow in the process is accurately defined. Fluidvelocity measurements are important for fluid flow quality performance in flow systems.This study focuses on determination of the volumetric flow rate and its standard (relative)deviation for calibration of conventional flow meters by using a radiotracer approach. Themeasurements for flow meter calibration were performed at a pilot-scale flow rig usingTechnetium-99 m (99mTc) as a radiotracer in the form of pertechnetate ion (99mTcO4-). Themeasured data were analyzed, and precision of the experimental setup was investigatedunder two different approaches – IAEA’s RTD software and sum approximation of raw data.For the first time, the variation of standard deviation of calculated flow rate with theinjection volume and activity of the radiotracer was determined. Plug flow with axialdispersion was used to simulate the measured RTD curves and investigate the flow dynamicsof the flowing water. The results of the study have shown the possibility of in situ calibrationof flow meters with a relative error lower than 1 %. They also revealed a slight dependencyof the precision of output results on the injection volume as well as similar results for manualand specialized RTD software data processing.
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