A high performance sequential WDXRF spectrometer with a single
goniometer (Axios 2005, PANalytical, Netherlands) was used for
quantitative analysis of the present plant samples. All WDXRF measurements
were performed under vacuum with three replicates of
each sample. The WDXRF technique allowed rapid and accurate elemental
analysis of samples with the different matrices including
solids, fused beads, pressed or loose powder and liquids. Complete
elemental measurements can cover a range from F to U in the concentration
range from 1 ppm to % level. The instrument is microprocessorcontrolled
for maximum flexibility and consists of an end-window Xray
tube. The X-ray tube in the present WDXRF spectrometer had
Rh anode and operated at a maximum power of 4 kW and maximum
current of 160 mA. To obtain high resolution spectra, five dispersive
crystals were used with the WDXRF namely LiF200, PE curved, PXI,
LiF220 and Ge curved. To recognize all the elements in the present
plant samples, the characteristic radiation of the major, minor and
trace elements were recorded in ten different scans. Each scan covers
a certain number of the expected elements and the peak areas of the
characteristic radiation of the elements were recorded. Gas proportional,
Duplex, and scintillation detectors were used for recording the intensities of the characteristic radiation for all elements as shown in
Table 1. Based on the intensities of the characteristic radiation, a
standard-less analysis program (SuperQ-IQ+software) which depends
on fundamental parameters has been used in the present work as has
been described previously