Controlling the Sulfur Content in Ultra Low Sulfur Diesel (ULSD) Fuels

Introduction

Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence spectroscopy (ED-XRF or EDX) is one of the best, cost-effective screening tools today. EDX has three distinct advantages as a screening tool: (1) little sample preparation, (2) short analysis time, and (3) reproducibility. For example, a typical diesel sample can be placed into the sample chamber without preparation (other than pouring the fuel into a 10 mL sample cup) and measured with printed results within 5-7 minutes. Moreover, in simple studies, a fuel with particular sulfur content can be measured repeatedly with high precision.

September 18, 2008 GMT