Element analysis in lubricants using polarized X-rays

摘要

The use of energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence in the oil industries increases continuously. The use of polarized X-rays especially increased enormously the performance of this technology. The reduction of background decreases the limits of detection by up to a factor of 10 in comparison with the traditional technology. Detection limits (in 3σ) of 1ppm are achieved for sulphur and chlorine. Generally the simultaneous multi-element analysis allows the determination of all elements between Mg and U. Screening analysis with automatic matrix detection enables the quantitative analysis of waste or used oil with unknown water content. The high performance of this technology is proved by several applications.