[en] TN Technologies has designed a field instrument which can rapidly detect up to 25 metals in soil, thin films or paint. The Spectrace 9000 XRF analyzer was also examined in a laboratory study to determine its capability in detecting and quantifying metals in waste oil. The oils selected for this experiment were: Alberta Sweet Mixed Blend crude, residual fuel oil No.5, a heavy fuel oil, Orimulsion, marine turbine oil 100, and a waste oil from a recent spill. These oils were tested under a variety of oil matrices. Results from the Spectrace 9000 were compared with those from a traditional laboratory technique based on inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy. The Spectrace 9000 proved capable of detecting a suite of metals in the oil. The best results were obtained when the manufacturer's soil application was applied and when analysis time exceeded 600 seconds. The long analysis time was compensated by the typically lower quantity of metals in oil compared to soil. In those cases where the concentration of the metal was in the vicinity of the instrument's lower detection limit, the probability of the instrument detecting and reporting a result for an individual metal was improved by replicate analysis. The results for the concentration values obtained with the Spectrace 9000 and laboratory analysis did not show numerical equivalency. At low concentrations, the results obtained with the XRF were double those obtained by the laboratory procedures. When the metal was present in significant quantities, the order of magnitude was even higher. 9 refs., 8 tabs