NEW APPLICATIONS FOR THE xSORT

SPECTRO Analytical Instruments (Germany) presents a new range of applications for the SPECTRO xSORT handheld XRF instrument. SPECTRO xSORT’s original metal analysis capabilities have been expanded to include applications for RoHS compliance and lead screening as well as for the examination of soil in environmental testing and the direct analysis of ores, concentrates and tailings.

The SPECTRO xSORT, weighing just 1.7 kilograms (3.7 lbs), is an analytical instrument for rapid non-destructive XRF screening analyses. With just a few seconds testing time, it non-destructively analyses the content of all important elements between sulfur and uranium contained in a sample. The modern silicon drift detector (SDD) used in the xSORT processes signals up to ten times faster than the detectors conventionally used in handheld XRF instruments. Dirk Wissmann, Product Manager for XRF instruments at SPECTRO, explains: “Depending on the task, users can utilize the high readout rate to measure with the xSORT much faster than with other instruments, or use traditional measurement times and achieve significantly better detection limits and accuracy.”

Rapid RoHS compliance and lead screening are among the most important of the new applications reports Wissmann: “In the United States, lead residues have recently been found again and again in toys, jewelry and cosmetics. Product recalls and high compensation claims are the result. This subject remains current and encompasses ever more industries worldwide; right through to the classic wholesale and retail trade.” The SPECTRO xSORT can bring all of its strengths into play for this application. The analyzer is non-destructive, offers a high degree of analytical flexibility and has a low purchase price. For screening measurements the high speed xSORT really shows what it can do: “When a warehouse clerk needs to test several hundred products at a time, it makes a big difference whether he/she has to hold the XRF instrument still for 30 or 90 seconds,” explains Dirk Wissmann. “With the xSORT, the clerk is not only finished faster, but doesn’t have any aching muscles either!”

Fast environmental screening analyses are a second important application area for the xSORT.  With the instrument, users simply press a button to test the elemental composition of soil or sludge or to discover whether or not an old telephone pole was treated with outdated and now illegal wood preservative. As one would imagine, operation of the instrument is easy: The user places the probe against the soil or sample, presses the trigger and, within just a few seconds, views the elemental contents on the integrated PDA display. Small or thin samples can be examined using the optional docking station. The SPECTRO xSORT is available with various configuration options for especially accurate results and additional ease of use. Options include extremely large surface area detectors for exact soil examination or an integrated GPS module that keeps a protocol of sampling locations when geologists analyze rock samples.