EDXRF Proves a Very Useful Tool in Characterising Recycled Feedstocks

Concerns about global warming and potential pollution of scarce resources by runoff from landfills and other retention receptacles are driving recycling of many of our commonly used materials.
Recycled materials are generally composites of the original raw material and additives that were added to give the finished product
certain required properties and as such these waste materials coming from multiple different waste streams would need to be characterised (profiled) in order to ascertain the presence and levels of elements that would need to be removed before re-processing could occur for any number of reasons.
EDXRF can play a very useful role as a screening tool to identify and quantify elements of interest and to evaluate raw material sources for economic viability of the source as feedstock for a particular product, identify and quantify levels of elements that could prove deleterious to the process and would mean that the material should be pre-treated before processing, continuous process monitoring to help with optimisation of the process and final quality control of the product or intermediate to make sure that the product specification is maintained.
Jordan Valley introduces the powerful EX-Cite and EX-Calibur benchtop Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (EDXRF) spectrometers which enable system operators to identify the elemental composition of up to eight samples in one automated acquisition as the solution to material characterisation.
The analysers deliver rapid, non-destructive, multi-element determinations from ppm to high weight percentages of elements
ranging from sodium( Na) to uranium (U) in sample matrices that include liquids, solids, slurries, powders, pastes.
The EX-Cite system utilises 35kV, 9-watt X-ray technology to analyse samples in a non-destructive manner. This approach is particularly valuable in applications where sample integrity must be preserved for
further testing.
The 50kV, 50-Watt EX-Calibur delivers performance capabilities similar to traditional liquid nitrogen-cooled detector units by achieving similar resolution to an LN2 cooled Si(Li) detector. Close coupled
geometry, full power excitation with highly tunable energy levels allow the Ex-calibur to deliver great sensitivity and selectivity in one compact footprint analyser.