Multi-element analysis of crude-oil samples by 14.6 MeV neutron activation

The instrumental neutron activation technique, using the SAMES T-400 neutron generator with 14.6 MeV neutrons produced from3H(d,n)4He reaction is demonstrated for multi-element analysis of Saudi-Arabian crude-oil samples. The system parameters for the absolute method (e.g., the counting solid-angle, intrinsic efficiency of the γ-ray detector, effective neutron flux, activation cross sections, etc.) were determined and the results of elemental concentrations were presented with the corrections for all possible interferences having been carefully considered.