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Additive manufacturing (AM), widely recognized as 3D printing, has become a fundamental element of industrial production. It makes it possible to manufacture very complicated parts with quite high accuracy and [...]

For the elemental analysis of plant tissue materials, traditionally ICP-OES or ICP-MS are used. The advantages are clear, as the sample prep by digestion is standardized. The instruments deliver the required sensitivity and precision, and the measurement itself is very fast and can be automated. The same is true when analyzing fertilizer samples. However, the infrastructure necessary to operate an ICP instrument is not always available, or possible. An additional drawback of the traditional approaches is the chemical waste, resulting from the acids required for digestion. For fast on-site analysis of plant materials, portable energy-dispersive XRF (EDXRF) is a very suitable tool. For applications in the lab demanding high precision and lower detection limits, EDXRF in the past was limited, as the measurement times needed for the required precision were too long, and detection limits for some critical trace elements were not low enough. Based on new excitation concepts and advanced detector technology, modern EDXRF instruments are suitable to perform plant tissue analysis within a much shorter measurement time. Also, highly accurate analyses of major and minor elements in fertilizers can be done. For some critical trace elements in plant tissue and fertilizers, excellent detection limits can be achieved. This is combined with easy sample preparation and low investment into the infrastructure needed to operate the instrument. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) are usually derived from vegetable oil and are typically blended with regular diesel fuel in the 5-20% range. An elemental analysis of pure FAMEs, used vegetable oil, or the reprocessed vegetable oil as well as biofuel blends is required to show compliance with the relevant specifications. Several test methods are available that describe the use of energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF) for the analysis of sulfur in fuel, such as International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 13032 and ASTM International D7220. The current test methods, using EDXRF, are limited to fuels with a discrete maximum amount of FAME or oxygen. This article describes a quick and economical procedure to check samples for their oxygen content to ensure that the material used for diesel fuel blending is really FAME-based and not mineral-oil based. The oxygen content determined by this approach is used to apply the required matrix correction without a priori knowledge (which is typically required using other approaches), improving sulfur content determination accuracy. In addition to the analysis of the sulfur content, this article describes EDXRF as a technique to monitor other elements, including P, Cl, Na, K, Mg, and Ca, among others, that can have detrimental effects on combustion engines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]