Other facilities

The other non-spectroscopic analytical capabilities of the laboratory are detailed as follow:

1. Light-element analyzer,
2. Palintest Photometer 7500,
3. Laboratory X-ray diffractometer: Bruker D8 Advance,
4. Field-portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer.

1. Light-element analyzer

C-TAPE has a (Thermo) Carlo Erba model EA1110 CHNS/O combustion elemental analyzer system for destructive analysis determinations of light element abundances in organic and inorganic samples. The unit is also equipped with a 50-sample autoloader for larger sample runs. Samples are placed in tin cups and through the use of an autosampler, dropped into a furnace (900-1000° C) where, with the aid of O2, they are combusted. The evolved gas is passed through a separation GC column and TCD detector to determine the concentrations of each element. This unit is able to accommodate both organic and inorganic samples with a high level of accuracy and precision in a short period of time.

2. Palintest Photometer 7500

The Palintest Photometer 7500 is a portable comprehensive multi-parameter water testing kit. The battery-powered photometer is pre-programmed with many test parameters offering a complete test solution for diverse applications. Reagent tablets are available for nearly 50 water parameters.

3. Laboratory X-ray diffractometer: Bruker D8 Advance

The Bruker D8 Advance is a powder x-ray diffractometer that can provide a full continuous scan up to ~140 º 2θ with any combination of step size and integration time. The system uses a Bragg-Brentano goniometer with a theta-theta setup with a 2.5º incident Soller slit, 1.0 mm divergence slit, a 2.0 mm scatter slit, a variety of receiving slits, a curved secondary graphite monochromator, and a scintillation counter. The line focus Co X-ray tube is operated at 40 kV offering 1600 W of power.

4. Field-portable X-ray fluorescence spectrometer

The Oxford Instruments XMet3000TX is a portable handheld x-ray fluorescence elemental analyzer capable of providing standardless (qualitative) analyses from Ti to U. Detection of lighter elements, Al – Ca, is possible with the addition of the Oxford Instruments vacuum system. The XMet3000TX utilizes an Ag excitation source operated at 40kV and the probe contains a high-resolution Peltier cooled Si-PIN diode detector.