Rigaku Publishes New EDXRF Method for Analysis of Sulfur, Vanadium and Nickel in Crude Oil

Applied Rigaku Technologies, Inc. has published a new application report describing the measurement of sulfur, vanadium and nickel in crude oil by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF).

Austin, TX (PRWEB) October 27, 2015

Sulfur, vanadium and nickel occur naturally in crude oil. Their concentrations vary depending on the geographical region of the oil deposits. High levels of vanadium and nickel can adversely affect the refining process, making crude oil with low levels of vanadium and nickel more desirable. Excess levels must therefore be removed before refining.

At the refinery, midstream in pipelines and at gathering points, a quick and easy means of screening and monitoring vanadium and nickel levels is essential for characterizing the quality of the crude. The NEX DE™ EDXRF analyzer is designed to meet this industry analytical need. New excitation and detection technology in the instrument achieves up to 500,000 cps throughput and very low background levels, yielding a 2X improvement in detection limits over previous models, making the NEX DE analyzer an ideal multi-element tool for monitoring the concentrations of not only sulfur, but also metals in crude, residuals and other heavy hydrocarbons. Additionally, the unit’s powerful QuantEZ Windows®-based software gives technical and non-technical operators alike a user-friendly interface for conducting analyses.

For the application described in the report, empirical calibrations were built using a suite of ten commercially available mineral oil standards. Two calibration standards were measured in 10 repeat analyses using an analysis time of 600 seconds per sample to demonstrate precision.

The results indicate that, given stable samples, proper sample handling and calibration technique, the NEX DE analyzer achieves excellent performance for monitoring sulfur and metals in oil. The method demonstrates that the Rigaku NEX DE analyzer delivers a simple yet powerful and versatile system for quantifying multi-elemental composition using the empirical approach.

Request a copy of the report http://www.RigakuEDXRF.com/edxrf/petroleum.html

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2015/10/prweb13047196.htm