Low Cost EDXRF Analysis of Sulphur, Chlorine and Other Elements

Elemental analysis is essential for oils and petroleum products. Sulphur will always be an important element for monitoring in crude oils and fuels oils. Sulphur content is regulated in many products, and plays a significant role in fuel quality and in control of polluting emissions. Around the world, regulations limit the amount of sulphur allowable in diesel fuels, kerosene, heating oils, etc., thereby affecting the price and quality of crude oil based on its sulphur content.

Reliably characterising the sulphur content of crudes ensures proper quality for the various feedstocks at the refinery, and optimum blending ratios when combining different crudes to meet a desired sulphur concentration. Monitoring sulphur is also important when characterising residual oils and bunker fuels.

In crude oils, chlorine may also be present, through natural processes or possible adulteration. Left unmeasured, chlorine may bias the sulphur measurement during crude oil blending or cause damage in the refining process. Cutting fluid efficiency and lubricity depends on the proper balance of sulphur and chlorine, as unbalanced amounts can cause damage to cutting tools and machined parts. Used waste oils can be made into fresh recycled lube oil or can be used as a secondary fuel in industrial furnaces.

Rigaku meets the challenge of monitoring and measuring the sulphur and chlorine content of oils with compact benchtop instrumentation that use semiconductor detectors that can easily resolve and measure the sulphur and chlorine, as well as other elements present in the oil.

Rigaku, supplies the petroleum industry with both process sulphur gauges and low-cost benchtop sulphur analysers. Specifically engineered as a superior solution for sulphur analysis by ASTM D4294, the Rigaku NEX QC analyser is a simple and versatile benchtop Energy Dispersive X-Ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometer for the analysis of sulphur and other elements in crude oil, petroleum oils and fuels.

As a premium low-cost benchtop EDXRF analyser, the NEX QC spectrometer delivers compliance with a variety of sulphur methods, with an easy-to-learn software interface in a robust package specifically designed for the petroleum industry. Optimised for routine determination of sulphur, chlorine and other elements in oil, the NEX QC analyser features an intuitive and modern “icon-driven” touch screen, a smartphone-style interface for easy operation and a built-in thermal printer for convenience.

A 50 kV X-ray tube and Peltier-cooled semiconductor detector deliver exceptional short-term repeatability and long-term reproducibility, with excellent element peak resolution. The high voltage, along with multiple automated X-ray tube filters, provides multi-element analysis capability for unmatched performance with low limits-of-detection (LOD).

This high voltage capability, along with multiple automated X-ray tube filters, provides wide elemental coverage for broad applications versatility, delivering rapid qualitative and quantitative determination of major and minor atomic elements in a wide variety of sample types.