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Rigaku Announces Publication of New Empirical Application Note
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Rigaku Corporation has announced the publication of a new empirical application note for the analysis of low concentration sulfur in petroleum-based fuels using wavelength dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (WDXRF).
Application Note #XRF 5015 describes the capabilities of the Rigaku ZSX Primus WDXRF spectrometer for the quantitative analysis of low concentration sulfur in diesel fuel, gasoline and kerosene in accordance with the American Society for Testing and Materials method ASTM D2622-10, which covers Standard Test Method for Sulfur in Petroleum Products.
The application note details sample preparation, method calibration and repeatability.
Sulfur content in fuels, particularly automobile fuels, is strictly controlled since sulfur in petroleum-based fuels is a significant contributor to atmospheric pollution. Control of sulfur content is therefore very important in refineries.
X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry is used for quantitative analysis of sulfur in petroleum-based fuels, in part because of its simple sample preparation requirements. In XRF analysis of fuel oil, samples are simply poured into liquid cells.
Complicated treatments such as chemical decomposition or dilution are not required, yet the total concentration of sulfur is obtained.
The analysis in this report was performed using the Rigaku ZSX Primus, a tube-below sequential WDXRF spectrometer with a 3 kW X-ray tube that is optimized for the routine analyses that today’s petroleum laboratories need to perform.
For the described application, “number 2 diesel fuel” standards, isooctane-based standards and kerosene-based standards were used for calibration of diesel fuel, gasoline and kerosene respectively. Repeatability tests were carried out using a representative sample for each material.
The test results detailed in the report demonstrate that low concentration sulfur in petroleum-based fuel can be routinely analyzed with high accuracy and precision on the ZSX Primus sequential WDXRF spectrometer, meeting the requirements of ASTM D2622-10, which has become stricter in the recent versions of ASTM D2622.
