X-ray Fluorescence Analysis of Rice and Rice Bran with a Dry Battery X-ray Generator

Abstract

X-ray fluorescence analysis on rice (brown rice, white rice and wash-free rice) and rice bran has been performed by using a dry battery X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometer in combination with a pyroelectric X-ray generator and a potable Si PIN X-ray detector. As a reference, a similar analysis with a commercial energy dispersion XRF spectrometer achieved the detection of K, Mn, Fe, S, Cu, Zn and Rb. The difference of the XRF spectra revealed that K, Fe, Mn, S and Rb were contained in rice bran. Nevertheless, the dry battery spectrometer detected only K, Mn and Fe; the measured abundances of these elements in rice and rice bran were almost similar. This difference of detected elements is mainly due to the difference between characteristic X-rays from both X-ray sources, and not due to the difference in the intensities of excited X-rays. Thus, the dry battery XRF spectrometer has sufficient capability for the XRF analysis on crops as commercial spectrometers, notwithstanding the low power of the X-ray outputs.