Computer controlled system for the automatic neutron activation analysis of vanadium in petroleum with a californium-252 source

A pneumatic system interfaced to a digital computer has been designed, programmed, and tested for the unattended and continuous determination of vanadium in aqueous solutions, petroleum, and cokes. A californium-252 source is used for neutronactivation of the samples. Under computer control, the system is capable of analyzing 48 samples in an 8-h period. Three different calibration curves are required for the three types of materials analyzed because of different thermalization effects in the different types of samples. The system requires 5 to 10 g samples to achieve a detection limit of 10 ppM +- 30%. Increased precision is obtained by reanalyzing aliquots of the sample. Accuracy studies obtained with prepared samples showed differences of up to 4%. 6 figures, 2 tables